Let’s Invent an iTunes for News

Not for nothing, but haven't I been saying the same thing in older blogs. Perhaps I have been taking it from the device side, hoping that Apple would devise a Kindle like product with its own special touches; but at the same time, suggesting an ability to subscribe and receive daily or weekly newspapers or magazines downloaded to the device. But to the NYT credit, an iTunes app would enable ownership, not only to the device, but to the PC as well, so that one subscription could be shared and downloaded to other members of the family. Like iTunes does with the iPod, allowing multiple devices to share music and video content. Why shouldn't an iTunes print category do the same thing.

And speaking about Steve Jobs, David Carr writes "Remember that when iTunes began, the music industry was being decimated by file sharing. By coming up with an easy user interface and obtaining the cooperation of a broad swath of music companies, Mr. Jobs helped pull the business off the brink. ... Those of us who are in the newspaper business could not be blamed for hoping that someone like him comes along and ruins our business as well by pulling the same trick: convincing the millions of interested readers who get their news every day free on newspapers sites that it’s time to pay up." Jobs made it okay to purchase content and not simply take it from a P2P site. Now if only Steve Jobs and Apple could pull the same feat with printed content.

Everything to Connect to the Web, But What About Interconnectivity?

As the Consumer Electronics Show comes to an end in 2009, all the buzz seems to be connectivity to the internet, but what about interconnectivity. Does every device need to pull from the web, or will there be networking that remains inside my home. And while it is nice to pull movies off the web to a TV set, there is some content I already own on my PC that I want to move easily as well. For music, home movies, even photos, how can I best network my home to take advantage of this content. Do I need to push all this data first out to the web before getting back to my home. Linking to the web is nice, linking to my own home network is nicer.

And what about the content being generated by my own home. How about the refrigerator pinging me that I need to change the water filter, or keeping a grocery list of items inside that are running low. How about remote connection to my HVAC system so that I can adjust temperatures if I forgot to reset my temperature gauge when away from the house; or pinging me on my cell phone if the alarm goes off. How these devices converge and interact is perhaps an even bigger win for technology in the coming years.