For most people, the way they watch their snapped HD video is with either these ways:
– Copy files to the computer, edit as a single video, export to a DVD or MOV/MP4. This is the most popular method, and the one I’d recommend to most people.
– Buy a mini-HDMI adapter, connect the camera to the TV directly.
– Wirelessly transmit the video via DLNA/UPnP/Airplay to a playback device.

Each of these ways has its advantages and disadvantages. In the first case, exporting to a delivery codec for general viewing, is “lossy”, for example. Using the camera via an HDMI adapter doesn’t scale financially, since these files are huge and new SD cards would need to be purchased regularly once they’re filled up. As for the third option, it’s technically complex and few can figure it out, or have a solid-enough WiFi network to send up to 50 mbps of data over the air (few people have their living room wired), or often the formats don’t work on the targeted device.

So here’s a fourth, alternative way, for those who want lossless HD video, from their camera to TV, using a playback device, like the Sony PS3, XBOX360, Roku, GoogleTV. Some cameras that already record in MP4 (h.264/AAC), or playback devices that support many formats, do not require any additional processing on the video files, but often, this combo is not possible (e.g. files from a Canon HD digicam and Roku XD|S’ “USB Channel” playback app don’t work together). This article is trying to tackle such cases. The video will remain untouched, only the audio would be re-encoded in high bitrate, and only if that’s needed.

So, for this tutorial, you will need an h.264 (not MJPEG) HD digital camera or digirecorder, and some rudimentary knowledge of how to use the command line. If you have a Canon camera, you should use its built-in editing function to cut out the parts of videos that are not worth keeping (e.g. shaky scenes etc). Don’t keep footage that is not presentable. Other cameras might have the same in-camera ability, check with your camera’s manual.

Install this ffmpeg build from here, and the faac encoder archive from here. Create a folder called “ffmpeg” in your user’s folder, it would look something like this: C:\Users\YOUR-USERNAME\ffmpeg\ (the exact path depends on the version of the Windows OS you’re using). From inside these two compressed archives you downloaded, drag in the ffmpeg folder the ffmpeg.exe file, and the libfaac-0.dll file (note: you will need the 7-Zip utility to uncompress these archives). Then rename libfaac-0.dll to libfaac.dll (if you don’t see file suffixes, e.g. .dll, .7z, etc, you can enable that feature on your Windows Explorer’s “Options” dialog). Finally, inside that ffmpeg folder create two new folders, named “original”, and “rewrapped”. Using an SD reader (it’s faster than connecting your camera via USB), copy your camera files inside the “original” folder.

If your files’ suffix is .mov or .mp4, open Quicktime, load any one of your camera files, and click “Window”, and then “Show Movie Inspector”. Check the format, and depending what kind of audio it says it’s got, you’d need to follow a different ffmpeg script, as shown below. If your files are .mts use case #4 (change .mts to .m2ts or .avi if your h.264 camera shoots as such, e.g. older AVCHD cams, older Flip cams). So, open the “Command Prompt” Windows application, navigate to the ffmpeg folder (that’s where the rudimentary command-line knowledge I mentioned above is required), then copy/paste the right script that matches your case, and run it.

1. MOV (h.264/PCM) to MP4 (h.264/AAC) // Canon, new Nikon cams

ffmpeg -i original\movie.mov -f mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec libfaac -ab 256000 -ac 2 rewrapped\movie.mp4

2. MOV (h.264/AAC) to MP4 (h.264/AAC) // Flip, Kodak, iPhone/iPod/iPad

ffmpeg -i original\movie.mov -f mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec copy rewrapped\movie.mp4

3. MP4 (h.264/PCM/AC3/mono AAC) to MP4 (h.264/AAC) // Optional for Samsung cams with AAC mono audio

ffmpeg -i original\movie.mp4 -f mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec libfaac -ab 256000 -ac 2 rewrapped\movie.mp4

4. MTS (h.264/AC3) to MP4 (h.264/AAC) // AVCHD-Lite Sony & Panasonic digicams

ffmpeg -i original\movie.mts -f mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec libfaac -ab 256000 -ac 2 rewrapped\movie.mp4

Obviously, manually change the two filenames “movie.xxx” each time you move to a different file (e.g. an original file 2011-03-14-343.mov would become 2011-03-14-343.mp4). If you have lots of camera files, and changing the filename manually is way too much work, you can create a “batch” script. Open notepad or another text editor, and depending which of the cases above you need, copy/paste the appropriate script (not the “Case ##:” line).

Case #1:
for %%a in ("original\*.mov") do ffmpeg -i %%a -f mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec libfaac -ab 256000 -ac 2 rewrapped\%%~na.mp4

Case #2:
for %%a in ("original\*.mov") do ffmpeg -i %%a -f mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec copy "rewrapped\%%~na.mp4"

Case #3:
for %%a in ("original\*.mp4") do ffmpeg -i %%a -f mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec libfaac -ab 256000 -ac 2 rewrapped\%%~na.mp4

Case #4 (change .mts to .m2ts or .avi if your h.264 camera shoots as such, e.g. older AVCHD cams, older Flip cams):
for %%a in ("original\*.mts") do ffmpeg -i %%a -f mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec libfaac -ab 256000 -ac 2 rewrapped\%%~na.mp4

Save the script for your case as rewrap.bat on the same folder as your ffmpeg.exe file, and run it. It will only take a few moments to losslessly rewrap your video to the more standard MP4 format that can be played with most TV devices. The only device that needs its video re-encoded is the original AppleTV, which has a limitation of 720/24p at 5 mbps (Simple Profile). Every other modern TV device should be able to playback these rewrapped files without a problem. Once you have confirmed that your device can play these files, you can delete the original camera files to make space in your PC (these new MP4 files are as good for future editing, since the video was not re-encoded, and the audio was not always re-encoded — and if it was, it was with high-enough bitrate).

If you would like to join all these created MP4 files under a single MP4 file for easier viewing, you can use MP4box. Unzip mp4box.exe and any DLL file it comes with on your \ffmpeg\rewrapped\ folder. Navigate there with a Command Prompt window and run:
MP4Box -cat 1.mp4 -cat 2.mp4 -cat 3.mp4 output.mp4
Add as many mp4 files you want (preferably in the order they were shot as), and of course use the right mp4 filenames. If it complains about it, you also need to hunt for the MSVCR100.dll file at Microsoft’s site, and when you find it, you can copy it on the same folder as mp4box.exe. At the end, to fix some mp4box container bugs, run:
..\ffmpeg -i output.mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec copy -y final.mp4
This final.mp4 file is the one you can use to watch all your clips as one. If you’re copying it into a FAT32 system to view, then make sure the file is not bigger than 4 GB, or it will fail (FAT32 limitation).

If you’re porting these scripts to a Linux/Unix OS, you must either compile your own ffmpeg with libfaac support, or download a binary package compiled as such, or you will need a pre-built libfaac library for an existing ffmpeg version (that must itself be built with dynamic loading). Finally, make sure the script’s backward slashes are changed to forward.

I always hated PJ Harvey’s music. So much, that it had a detrimental effect on disliking her person too, for reasons that even myself will never understand. I remember MTV playing her videos in the early ’90s, and I was feeling that it was the right time to have a break from TV-watching. I just didn’t get her, I guess.

Last month, PJ Harvey released her 8th full album, “Let England Shake“. And everything in my perception of her, and her music, changed almost overnight.

This album is current. Both musically, and lyrically. The melodies are amazingly catchy, and in some instances its epic-ness elevates me the same way opera does. And then there’s the gloomy, harsh, highly political lyrics, enough to get me back to the ground. An amazing contrast, that creates an eerie atmosphere that doesn’t let you stride away from. As some guy wrote on iTunes: “Sounds like Enya reading a Churchill biography, while being strangled by Patti Smith. But in a good way.” My rating? 9/10. Album of the year so far.

In light of this finding, I went to her back catalog to see what I was missing all these years. And I’m afraid to say that my opinion for her past music hasn’t changed much. As a more mature listener these days I do appreciate her music more (1st-2nd albums), but not to the point of wanting to buy any of that older material. I really feel that PJ Harvey reached her peak with this new album instead. An album with a cause, not random alternative rock tunes (as in the 3rd-6th albums), and not as in some cases, boring arrangements (7th album). I hope we will see more of this, all-new, PJ Harvey in her future work too.

Update: The whole album is amazing, but these are the best 3 songs, in order:
1. Bitter Branches
2. The Glorious Land
3. On Battleship Hill

At last, tonight I found online the manuals for the new Canon cameras (it seems that Canon-Singapore is faster than anyone other Canon site). I checked these PDF manuals for the cameras that have some manual control in still-picture mode, in this case the Elph 500 HS (Av/Tv modes), and the SX220/SX230 HS (full manual control).

So, to my huge surprise, the manuals insinuate (but they are not super-clear), that you can press the new dedicated “video record” button, even if you’re not currently in an actual video mode. The only other Canon P&S cams that had a dedicated video button in this fashion were the SX30 IS, and the SX210 IS, but I can’t find any info online of people commenting about what happens to video when in Manual/Tv/Av mode. The PDFs I read tonight show video for the AUTO and P modes, but they also mention that it’s usable on other modes too. In fact, on screenshots of the 500 HS’ Tv and Av modes on the manual, the video record button shows to be enabled!

This hopefully means that we can set the camera to Tv mode, set it to 1/50th or 1/60th shutter speed (depending if you’re shooting 1080/24p or 720/30p), set ISO to 80 or 100, and then force the aperture open by using an ND filter. Zoom-in too, and you will achieve a very pleasant background blur. Then bring up exposure compensation and tweak it, focus too, and then lock them both. Then record, and notice the very cinematic motion blur!

In the SX220/SX230 HS case it goes even further, since it has full manual control, where the camera allows you to manually focus and/or lock focus, and independently change shutter speed, aperture, and ISO values. If all this is as expected, then these are the cheapest Canon cameras with full video manual control, and with quality and additional features that vastly surpass the only other cameras that have manual control in a similar price range: the Sanyo Xacti.

There’s a stinker in the 500 HS case though, where the manual is not very clear, and that’s about the focus lock. The manual claims that this works in video mode, and that it can be set separately from exposure lock, but I can’t see how this is possible, since the manual also states that if you press again the screen, the AFL goes away (and you need to press the screen again, since the video record button on the 500 HS is a touch-button and not a hard button as in the case of the SX220/SX230 HS). Hopefully it is possible to lock focus & exposure independently, and then record video on the 500 HS, otherwise I will be seriously pissed off, since that’s a feature that existed in older models. Update: Avoid the 500 HS, it doesn’t lock exposure in video mode!

The other scenario that I fear is that while you can be in manual mode and be all-setup to record with these custom values, when you press the video record button the camera goes back to AUTO. Or, nothing happens. Anyway, I won’t know about any such… loopholes unless I get a camera to test with. I will be buying the 500 HS (very fast and wide lens, large screen), and I will write about my findings. Fingers crossed! These cameras are expected to be released in April, they’re currently on pre-order.

BTW, the other major movie modes, like the iFrame format and the super-slow motion mode, don’t have exposure/focus lock, they are pretty much “auto”, and therefore useless for anything serious.

Update: Bad news. An SX30 IS owner tried his video record button in M mode, and the exposure changed automatically. So it seems that we can’t get manual control for video via the stills mode.

I was watching “Monsters” on Netflix Instant tonight. A movie that every filmmaker should watch. A movie, full with CGI, made for “less than $500,000”. Script, direction, camera, CGI, all done by the same person, Gareth Edwards (previously worked as a CGI artist, this was his first serious film). “Monsters” is already a cult classic among sci-fi fans.

The camera equipment cost less than $15k. A Sony EX3 camera with a 35mm adapter was used. Vignetting, and lack of captured light (because of the adapter) is apparent in most scenes, but the story makes up for it. No artificial lighting was used, no location permissions were acquired prior to filming — this is the ultimate guerrilla film. It’s a bit sad that it was shot just a few months before the Canon 7D or T2i were released, they could have saved lots of money, and have better low light support!

The film feels both like a documentary (because most of the scenes were not pre-planned or had multiple takes), and a real movie. It was shot in 3 Latin American countries and the US, while the crew of 3-4 and 2 actors were traveling on a single van. Most of the rest of the “actors” on the movie are just random people who agreed to act! All the editing and 250 GGI shots were done with off-the-shelf software.

According to Wikipedia, “Monsters was nominated for six British Independent Film Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, and eventually won the Best Director, Best Technical Achievement, and Best Achievement in Production awards.” After all this, the director was asked to direct the next Godzilla. BTW, there’s a twist on the film, but you need to watch it carefully to get it.

The male star of the film, Scoot McNairy, in 2007 also starred in the drama “In Search of a Midnight Kiss“, a film with very good reviews, shot with the Sony HVR-Z1, for less than $25,000.

Another low budget sci-fi movie I can’t wait to see is “In-World War“, shot by an ex-Apple manager from Oakland, who left his post to become a filmmaker. This sci-fi one was shot with a RED One and it’s currently in post-production.

The previous versions of the Panasonic LX series featured 24p video, but terrible manual controls and video formats. With the LX5, we see a much more useful video support (full manual control), but now with… wacky frame rates.

The Canon S95 on the other hand, at the same price category of $400, has no full manual control. It has just the essentials (exposure compensation/lock) to get you going, and “clean” 24p support.

I don’t own any of the two cameras, but seeing some comparison clips (e.g. this one), both directly out of the camera and re-encoded, and reading the specs, I have a few thoughts about the two cameras.

Advantages of the LX5 over the S95:
– Manual control for video. This is a big deal.
– Much better image stabilization in video mode than Canon’s “dynamic” IS.
– Visibly better in low light.
– Optical zoom and continuous autofocus available when recording video.
– Wind Cut for audio.
– AVCHD-Lite a bit easier to edit than MOV files on most editors, even if internally they both use h.264. [I don’t consider its MJPEG option serious.]

Disadvantages of the LX5 over the S95:
– WAY more CCD purple artifacts on the LX5. You have to constantly be careful where you point the camera, and use ND filters and sun-glare protectors.
– Lower bitrate at 17 mbps, compared to S95’s 21 mbps VBR. From directly-out-of-the-camera samples, I found that the S95 has more detail.
– Completely retarded frame rate: 30p with double useless frames, to make it look like it’s 60p. Just enough to confuse some video editors.
– No cinematic 24p option.
– No sharpness setting.
– 192 kbps AC3, compared to S95’s uncompressed audio.

At the end of the story, for video, it all comes down to if you don’t mind the CCD artifacts and the doubled frame rate. Sony Vegas should be able to handle its frame rate properly, if you force your project properties at 30p for example, and hopefully it won’t mess up any slow-motion either. Not much you can do about the artifacts though. Regarding artistic videos, e.g. for slightly slow-motioned (30p to 24p) music or non-vocal videos, the LX5 is the better choice when you shoot with full control of the lighting and exposure.

The S95 on the other hand keeps the reigns for its clean 24p frame rate, for those who shoot run-and-gun short movies and family videos, or non-slowed music videos. Also its higher picture quality with limited CCD artifacts is a plus.

Verdict? The LX5 has the advantage, IF used with enough care.

The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) just released a PDF about Greece, one of the countries in their “most watched” list about piracy. In the first paragraph in that PDF they recognize that the governments’ austerity measures will increase piracy even more. Then, they go on to suggest strict laws and punishments to those who are caught pirating. Well, let me say something to these sharp knives over at IIPA:

When a country is under a huge stress over their previous quality of life getting vanished (as IIPA themselves are acknowledging), and they take that weight out of in the streets by rallying and striking every week, the government will not, and it should NOT, take further action against them for any home/digital copyright infringement. Not because copyright infringement punishment is not lawful (it is, and it should be up to a point), but because as a politician you must control these 11 million people from pulling a Jasmine on you.

And the best way to do this, is to keep them busy with entertainment. If piracy is how these straggling citizens are getting their fix and relax, well, let it be so.

IIPA, I hope the Greek government won’t listen to you. No problem catching the professional pirates, but at the current climate in Greece, the Greek citizens should get a free pass on digital piracy at home. At least until things calm down, which it will take a few years. If this means that you must stop selling your goods in Greece because of unmet trade agreements, then DO SO. Your goods were not going to be bought anyway, because there’s no money left to be spent on your products. But you have no right to dictate policy on the Greek nation.

A few days ago this article made the rounds: music execs are stressed over free streaming (e.g. online radios, pandora), and streaming in general (e.g. the for-pay spotify, rdio, mog etc). They fear that this freeness or cheapness will generate even less profit for them. But isn’t this normal?

Funny thing is, until last year they put the blame for their failing business to piracy. Now, they blame streaming. But the truth lies elsewhere, a truth they’d prefer hidden.

The real headache for the big music business is not just piracy, streaming, lack of talent/innovation, or even the financial crisis. Yes, these factors had their toll, no doubt, but they are not the only catalysts for the decrease in revenue. The “problem” is also the fast emergence of the independent scene.

Independent musicians were around since forever, but the Internet, and the cheaper hardware & software in this past decade, brought them into the limelight, little by little. Now it’s possible to find thousands of legally free promo mp3s from these indie artists, get accustomed to their eclectic sound, and eventually get to a state of mind where you never want to have anything to do with the mainstream music ever again. Also, these decreased revenue numbers we get from RIAA are from a few labels only, while customers have moved over to true indie labels instead (e.g. even SubPop is not exactly indie anymore, being owned by Warner Bros, and being part of RIAA), and they often buy or freely download music from artists that are label-less.

To showcase how the indie scene took paying customers away from RIAA, let’s have a look at the Rolling Stone magazine’s reviews over the years. Magazines have their interest in reporting about music acts that people care about, so they’re a good benchmark in this research. Rolling Stone has posted online their music reviews from 1967 to date. The first album reviews for an indie band was just in the ’90s, for Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pavement. They were pretty much the only indie bands that were reviewed on a timely basis, and the first two eventually went major anyway. The second true indie band reviewed later was Yo La Tengo, in 1998. The next ones were Shins and Neco Case in 2001. Interpol and Death Cab for Cutie in 2002. Cat Power and The Postal Service in 2003. Basically, acts from mostly Matador, or Subpop, and only far and between.

From that point on though numbers of indie reviews were going up every year, and around 2009, about 40% of all the reviews on Rolling Stone was for indie bands. Fast forward in early 2010, and that number is at around 60%. Fast forward at the end of 2010, and the beginning of 2011, and that number is close to 80%. It seems that the indie bands are taking over major-signed artists in the press at a logarithmic speed, and the curve of this surge feels more natural than just a pre-calculated editorial policy shift. Not to mention the explosion of indie mp3 blogs in the recent years too.

Sure, news gossiping is still about major pop stars, but that’s because nobody cares, or should care, about the personal lives of indie bands. Album review articles on the other hand, are targeted directly to serious consumers, people whose purchases are supposed to show up in these RIAA revenue spreadsheets. But they won’t, not anymore. The press is now directing new consumers towards indie acts — after the previous generation of consumers forced the press itself towards indie.

As for Arcade Fire winning “album of the year” at the Grammy’s, a first for an indie band? That was just the cherry on top of the cake.

Music does not die. The music industry does not die. It just has moved shift from the majors, to the indies. New, more broad spreadsheets are required to measure the success or failure of the music industry. Unfortunately, RIAA is using the same old methods to measure its revenue, presents it as the only truth, and speaks via its lobbyists to the Government still with authority — while it should have none anymore. The result from this head-on collision will be more terrible laws, trying to save an industry that should not exist anymore. Major record labels are not needed anymore. Recording and mixing is cheap nowadays, and advertisement can just be offloaded to third party PR companies.

These music execs who now complain are in the wrong business. Nothing would have saved them. There is not money to be made anymore in the same fashion they were working in the past. Some people say that if majors had embraced the Napster model things would have worked for them, but that’s not true. Big companies need lots of money to sustain themselves, and cheap products can’t sustain that lifestyle. Instead, full scale-back was needed, and for those companies this didn’t make sense, they should have dissolve, or sell, no later than 2008. The ones who remain, throw ash in our eyes with this “streaming is hurting us” bullshit, while from the other side they try to kill their true competition, the indie scene and Creative Commons.

You see, they’ve lost control. In the past, they would dictate to consumers to whom to listen to, by creating stars, and paying TV and radios to play their songs every hour. Without having a contract with them, you could never make it in the business. Now, they’ve lost that control. People are finding new bands on Pandora, music blogs, or Bandcamp, often downloading bedroom-made music for free. You can’t beat free. Plus, technology has helped putting an end to the read-only culture the majors nurtured in the last century.

The point is, indie is here to stay. Lady Gaga is the last major pop star of the old world.

I asked the question on Twitter a few days ago, and none of my 860 followers replied. I won’t let off that easily.

So, let’s assume that our galaxy is imminently dying for some reason. From all intelligent species out there, only one has the capability of traveling beyond this galaxy. Before they leave this galaxy for good, they go from intelligently habitable planet to planet to ask the life forms there about what would they send along to save. They have limited cargo space, and they aren’t terribly good in biology (so frozen eggs and human gestation is out of the question). So, if you were some kind of World President, who or what would you sent along to save humanity, and why:

As my ancestors ancient Greeks used to say: “a lot of people hated wealth, but no one hated glory”. If money was not the ulterior motive for that review, then power surely was.

Pitchfork used their review for Millionyoung’s new album, “Replicants”, to kill chillwave. The same genre that Pitchfork itself popularized in 2009. This was not a review of Millionyoung’s music, but a death sentence for the whole genre. The only criticism they had for the music was that the singer can’t sing well. But you know, they gave a 7.6/10 on Millionyoung’s first EP, how did they not notice the singer back then? And besides, Diaz sings no better and no worse than your average hipster singer. Singing abilities were never a reason for Pitchfork to give an album just 3.8/10.

Pitchfork, which thrives as a business by calling the shots in the hipster underground music industry, gives thumbs up and down to whole genres now, not just bands. The more influence they have, the more money they make, the more self-important they feel. So much for “underground”. Even that is at the mercy of a corporation.

UPDATE: Reader Mike D asked for a list of my favorite chillwave songs, here they are. Linked downloads are legal, from Pitchfork and StereoGum.

1. Washed Out – “New Theory”
2. Memory Tapes – “Green Knight (Visions of Trees Remix)” (free download)
3. Wild Nothing – “Confirmation” (only this song from his whole repertoir is chillwave)
4. FiveNG – “Skin” (Bandcamp download)
5. Kisses – “Midnight Lover”
6. Washed Out – “Belong”
7. Beat Connection – “In the Water” (free download)
8. Washed Out – “Good Luck”
9. Teen Daze – “For Paulina” (free download)
10. Washed Out – “Feel it all Around”
11 Washed Out – “Hold Out”
12 BlackBird Blackbird – “Happy High”
13. Washed Out – “Lately”
14. Washed Out – “You and I (feat. Caroline Polachek)”
15. Memory Tapes – “Bicycle” (free download)
16. Washed Out – “Luck”
17. Neon Indian – “Deadbeat Summer” (free download)
18. BlackBird Blackbird – “Hawaii”
19. Neon Indian – “Terminally Chill”
20. Millionyoung – “Cynthia”

Runner Up: Brothertiger – “Wind at My Back” (Bandcamp download)

Toro y Moi is overrated IMO. I can’t find any hook in his music.

Update 2: More of this crap!

And now Apple wants 30% cut of every subscription carried out through an iOS app. And apps are not allowed anymore to include a simple link to load a web browser page and let a new user subscribe through it either. In other words, if you need to sign-up new users, and your service is not free, you either have to have existing customers that don’t need to sign up, or pay Apple a 30% cut.

At first, this doesn’t sound that bad. I mean, apps can increase their prices so they can afford to pay up Apple. But there is a specific kind of app that it’s simply impractical to do that. See, there are some companies that serve their own content, and these can compensate. But there are other companies, who license the serving content, that can’t.

I’m talking about the music streaming subscription services, like MOG, RDIO, Rhapsody, Napster 2.0, Thumbplay, Spotify etc. And then there’s Netflix, Kindle too. These apps already pay a heavy price to RIAA or studios, so their margins are very small, in the already competitive market of entertainment. It’s very possible that these companies don’t make more than 10% per song streamed, maybe much less! And now Apple wants 30% off of a $10 subscription? How could these companies survive?

Increase prices from $10 to $15, you say? How are they gonna stay competitive when iTunes Streaming is coming this year for possibly no more than $10? Yes, it IS coming, it’s the natural evolution of the music market and gadgetry/networks. This is clearly anti-competitive, because Apple will be able to offer the same service for less, by squeezing the other guys out with mafia tricks. There are anti-trust issues, as WSJ noted.

AAPL, just like RIAA and MPAA (all the AAs, it seems), are dictators. And they all take decisions that only benefit their shareholders in the very short term. Because, I can tell you right here right now, that developers will be forced to give Apple the finger, and move to Android — even if they might not like Android as much as iOS.

Talk about Apple shooting its own foot. I think this great documentary, on Netflix Instant, asks the right question to corporations: “how much is enough money, where would you stop?” A highly recommended documentary.

Sometimes I keep thinking of Apple, particularly of Steve Jobs, and how he keeps making the same mistakes over and over. Mistake in the ’80s with the Mac clones and an open ecosystem, and exact same mistakes now. Some people never learn. Either that, or he finds the eventual minuscule market share, “cozy”.