Monday, February 10, 2014
Using a BluRay on a Mac
Apple only supports DVD players in their computers, some of them still have an integrated DVD player (those are disappearing in their new products) or have the possibility to connect an external one (Apple provides one for the MacBook Air range for instance). See above picture.
The solution: consists of two elements: the BluRay player/burner and the required software.
There are quite a few cheap BD burners available on the market. I selected a Samsung version based on several reviews I could find on the net. The advantages of this player are a relative compactness, the fact that it works with a single USB connection (and embedded power supply - no external power supply needed), and it is delivered with the PowerDVD software suite allowing to play BluRay's on Windows platforms.
The player will automatically be recognised as a disc unit and you'll be able to play DVDs with the standard DVD player provided by Apple. To play BluRay discs, you'll need specific software. The good news is that freeware is available, next to commercial products. Moreover, the Mac software will make the use of BD more user friendly, most annoying videos/commercials/copyrights are skipped, you can almost directly watch the movie/TV series, a huge advantage.
See here, for instance, for more info:
http://download.cnet.com/Free-Mac-Blu-ray-Player/3000-13632_4-75891746.html
You're all set, you can watch your BDs on your Mac from now on...
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Blu-ray - a real improvement ?
The first thing to take into account when developing a product is to collect the proper requirements (= the "voice of the customer" in quality terminology). It seems that this phase has not been done properly if at all.
What are the key requirements and the improvements expected over the DVD generation ? and what are the disturbing factors having a zero added value as far as the customer is concerned ?
- improved image quality, HD resolution : good job
- improved sound quality, more possibilities : good job
- more reliable media (scratch resistance, life time) : good job
BUT
- general performance of the system (reaction time, startup time) : ridiculously worse (a HUGE problem has been created where there was not problem: what would people say if after they start their engine, they cannot move the car unless they wait for five minutes)
- usability : an incredible step backwards. A complete nonsense user interface with an incredible number of manipulations instead of a single button press on the first DVD remote controllers.
- still a not so compatible system (very few PCs have a BD player, many cars have DVD players, no BD players, Apple does not support the format).
- regional codes: the distributors still don't understand anything about this market. This is an open insult to the user. You can legally buy a disc in a country, move to another (there are more and more world travellers) and you can throw away everything you bought. They just created another reason to STIMULATE piracy.
- languages: while at the beginning of the DVD, you had 8 spoken languages and 16 subtitles on a disc, nowadays you can be lucky if you find the right subtitles and the right language in a country far from the country where you live. This is really becoming ridiculous in Europe. If I live in Belgium, and want the original version (in english), english subtitles and the possibility to have french audio or dutch subtitles (the languages you would expect in Belgium) I often need to buy the discs in Germany, with the box in German. This is true for DVD and BD by the way. This is in contradiction with the PRINCIPLE of DVD and BD, providing multilingual possibilities. And it is a nonsense for the distributors, who have to manage a huge variety of unnecessary versions while one single version for all of Europe would be easy.
- most discs do not allow to restart from a saved position. You start watching a movie. You stop. You want to see the rest the day after, NO WAY. You must restart and skip to the place where you left (if you remember it). A major step backwards again.
I don't know if I am the only one to think that way, but to me the BD, while being a reasonable commercial success (I personally like the pictures and I have a lot of BDs), is among the major engineering failures of the last twenty years: an extremely badly designed system, probably introduced by incompetent organizations in a hurry.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Testing Maturity Grid Concept
Severity->
Status
|
Safety
Security
|
Unsellable
|
Major
|
Minor
|
Opened
|
10
|
50
|
75
|
|
In progress
|
45
|
15
|
10
|
|
Resolved
|
20
|
10
|
5
|
|
Closed
|
2
|
10
|
10
|
5
|
Other
End state
|
1
|
20
|
5
|
15
|
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Scripta volant, verba manent.
A very interesting situation: the Latin proverb everybody knows is (supposed to be) verba volant, scripta manent, which means, the spoken words fly away, the written words remain.
This conclusion is probably false. I remember what my Latin teacher told me more than 30 years ago, and the exact proverb was exactly the opposite. Scripta volant, verba manent. The exact meaning being: written words (on parchment) are ephemeral and literally fly away (many texts have been lost that way) while the spoken words (very often, the legends, the stories being told) are kept through generations of people. I remember my teacher explaining the details based on a very serious thesis. This explanation seems much more logical to me, considering the context (Antiquity). Amazing to see that one of the most popular proverbs in the world might be completely wrong.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
My last magazine
I don't know about you, but since the introduction of the iPad, a huge revolution has taken place and I fundamentally changed my behavior. I don't buy magazines anymore, I mean paper magazines. The last one I am interested in and I CANNOT get electronically is Le Chasseur d'Images, a French photography magazine. All the rest I get electronically on my iPad, Popular Photography, Newspapers, Capital (French), Wired, iCreate, and many others via Zinio.
So far, so good. BUT, if you think of it and extrapolate on recent data, 180.000 more people read the NYT on the iPad a few days after the introduction of the Newsstand app, you can conclude that whole industries will just disappear in a matter of years. This will be a disastrous move on top of what is probably becoming the worst economical crisis in history. Worldwide, hundreds of thousands if not millions of people might lose their job just because of this paradigm shift. I am convinced, that on relatively short term, there will be no need anymore for the printing industry, the press shops, the book shops, the distribution, warehouses and transportation industry active on this market. Their market will shrink and will just vanish because their cost will become unaffordable. Just like videoshops are just disappearing slowly. Another strange paradigm shift nobody is talking about is the change in the financial model. Until now, when I bought a French magazine, all the money went to local people, and supported local jobs in the chain. When I do the same eletronically, more than half the money goes to US companies !!! And almost doesn't create any job at all.
Food for thought.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Ice cubes ?
For geeks only.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Surprise your customers
IMG_0097, originally uploaded by gugs.
A special experience in one of the best restaurants in the world. During a visit to "Troisgros", among the top 50 gastronomy locations in the world, the waiter overheard a discussion about Apple, using iPads... One of the people at our table didn't like cheese and asked if he could get a replacement. This was the result, a wonderful combination of caramel, light cheese, apple. The lesson learned: if you want to make an impression and increase your customer experience, having your customers talking about it (recommend you as a supplier), surprise them, by listening to their needs and giving them added value they don't expect. This might seem evident, but so true.