software - page 53

The MacUpdate promo has unlocked both Parallels and BannerZest (as well as Sound Studio), reversing my prior concerns, and making the bundle one heck of a good deal. Parallels alone (which I have used the heck out of), is worth the $64.99 price of entry, getting BannerZest tossed in is just icing. As per my previous review, Art-Text and DVDRemaster pro also seem to be pretty handy utilities, adding value to the bundle. But the unlocking of parallels is what really tips it over the edge for me.

Only three days left, folks.

Pitting two great software bundles head-to-head in CultofMac cage match? What the heck, we have to do something to amuse ourselves until WWDC

Mac users this week are presented with two choices for bundles of shareware. The MacHiest bundle that includes 12 titles, bundled together for $49, and the MacUpdate promo that includes 10 titles for $64.99 (albeit 3 of them are locked until they reach specific sales numbers).

We get under the covers of these bundles to see which are worth your hard-earned duckets.

Filed under: Pure, Wild, Speculation

In my post regarding Apple’s apparent targeting of Adobe (if not them specifically then certainly their space) , there were such great, insightful comments that I decided to play a little game: What Would Steve Do? Taking a look at a potential Corel acquisition, how could we leverage the direct and indirect effects of that acquisition into an inferred Apple business strategy.

Now clearly, I’m not inside Steve’s head, that’s Leander’s niche, but these kinds of strategies are very much what I do for a living, so lets make some irresponsible, purely speculative, wild guesses, shall we? Of course gazing into the looking glass is no fun all by yourself, so lets make this an audience participation piece. I’ll lay out the basic framework after the break, and then we’ll pull from the comments for a follow-up piece.

Apple has released new firmware updates for several machines, but offered no meaningful explanation of what the update does. Apple’s note is maddeningly cryptic:

This update fixes several issues to improve the stability of [MacBook Air. Macbook, MacBook Pro, iMac] computers

The updates have sparked consternation in the Mac web world. At sites like the MacRumors forums, more than 200 commentators are asking, “What does it do?”

The updates are for:

MacBook

MacBook Pro

MacBook Air

iMac

Apple also released an update for the Aluminum Keyboard, but this one at least includes a meaningful description of the changes:

This firmware update addresses an issue with the aluminum Apple Keyboard and the aluminum Apple Wireless Keyboard where a key may repeat unexpectedly while typing.

Even in the day and age of the iPhone, the Newton community is still updating software for the old brick.

Programmer Simon Bell has released version 2.1 of Newton Connection, which allows a Newton to be backed up to a Mac running OS X.

The new version adds a small feature — a screenshot function — but I’m just delighted that the Newton community is still active.

Leigh looks over at fellow consultant Pete M., “if this is true, buddy, we’re going to be RICH! RICH beyond our wildest dreams…”

Fake Steve, in a recent story, referred to an article by Dev Corvin, which was breaking news about the forthcoming Windows 7 (which has moved its ship date up to 2009 as a result of the spectacular results Vista has demonstrated in the market…). Found amid the usual Windows blah-blah-blah, which I suffer through so you don’t have to, was this tasty quote:

Dev Corvin, thebetaguy.com :

Windows 7 takes a different approach to the componentization and backwards compatibility issues; in short, it doesn’t think about them at all. Windows 7 will be a from-the-ground-up packaging of the Windows codebase; partially source, but not binary compatible with previous versions of Windows.

Now I didn’t just take FSJ and this Dev guy’s word for it, I employed minimalist “journalistic” research and went ahead and Googled “Windows 7” “Not Backwards Compatible”, which yeilded some 1.8 million hits.

This has me literally giddy with anticipation, see I am a consultant, which my mom thinks is code for being unemployed, and about 55% of my firm’s business world-wide is Microsoft-related. I have half a mind to switch practices from Strategy and Transformation to MS (though those practitioners do look hostilely at my Blackberry let alone my Macbook Pro).

In short, fixing all that broken .NET code out there in corporate America will be tantamount to the Y2K effort 10 years ago; a license to print money for consultants. From the bottom of my heart, Thank you Bill.

Now why should anybody who reads Cult of Mac care about this, other than some kind of surrogate pleasure to be gained from my anticipated financial success?

Because, friends, Microsoft’s lock on corporate IT has every everything to do with backwards compatibility. Should Redmond choose to proceed with this folly, our ranks (of Mac loyalists) are destined to swell such that I might have to consider something other than my MB Pro to make me cool and hip in the eyes of our college hires (as-if… might I suggest a really expensive (and thus exclusive) accessory, like a tablet. –ed)

Filed under: Pure, Wild Speculation.

John Gruber, writes today in Daring Fireball, an article about Adobe CS4 and the fact that while it will be 64bit on Windows it will only be 32Bit on the Mac. He writes (as usual) a simply wonderful analysis on the topic (well worth the full read), pointing out that lack of Carbon support in Leopard is making it difficult for Adobe (as well as some other cross platform vendors) to develop applications for both Windows and the Mac using the same code base.

John Gruber, Daring Fireball:

… the degree to which Apple pulled the rug out from under Adobe’s feet at WWDC 2007 last June. When Leopard was first announced at WWDC 2006 nine months prior, it included full 64-bit support for both Carbon and Cocoa.64-bit.

Carbon wasn’t promised to be coming “sometime”, like with, say, resolution independence. It was promised for 10.5.0. And it existed developer seeds of Leopard up through WWDC 2007 had in-progress 64-bit Carbon libraries, and Adobe engineers were developing against them. Several sources¹ have confirmed to me that Adobe found out that Apple was dropping support for 64-bit Carbon at the same time everyone else outside Apple did: on the first day of WWDC 2007.

If Apple had shipped Leopard with the 64-bit Carbon support promised at WWDC 2006, Photoshop CS4 would run in 64-bit mode on the Mac.

I’m not rushing right out to get my tinfoil hat, but this coupled with the new Aperture plug-in framework, really starts to make me wonder. The only question which remains is how might Apple augment its current suite of products to more fully take on Adobe (remember, in the software space, Apple grows as much by acquisition, as by innovation).
My bet, they acquire Corel, but I’d love to hear your ideas.

Filed under, it’s never too soon.

This evening, without so much as a beating drum to alert the dogs of war, Apple fired a shot right across the bow of Adobe Photoshop’s dominion over photo editing.

Aperture is already my favorite photo organizing and fine-tuning software –it’s brilliant, and offers a seamless upgrade to the familiar iPhoto. What’s been frustrating however is the need to export to Photoshop to perform anything more than basic RAW adjustments to highlights, shadow, sharpness and re-touch.

Today, this all changed. Apple has released an example plug-in “Dodge and Burn”, and with it, demonstrated Aperture’s plug in architecture. Per this review, additional plug ins are in the works from Nik Software, PictureCode, and Digital Film Tools.

Sure we won’t be able to “paint” in it (and why would we), but if Aperture will shortly have access to the kind of plug-in library available to Photoshop, there may be virtually no need for Adobe in any professional photographer’s workflow. This is clearly one step further in Apple’s strategy to dominate their core “creative professionals” market. Remember when Avid/Adobe Premier owned film editing? Who is going to pick that over Final Cut now?

I’ve been playing with the version 2.1 now for a few hours and love the new functionality, but what’s got me more exited is the potential, I see a huge library of plug-ins on the horizon. So Aperture users, sound off, what plug-ins do you desire most? Me, top of the list, I want an HDR merge and tone-map plug-in, Right Now.

How soon the bloom fades from the fruit. Apple’s controversial distribution method for delivering Safari 3.1 to Windows users is inciting flames of discontent among customers and critics alike, who now accuse the company of unfair practices. The problem stems from Apple’s iTunes Software Update client for Windows, which some claim dupes users into downloading the latest version of Safari by leaving the install option checked by default, whether the browser was previously installed or not, which users then mistake to be a necessary update rather than an option.

Not surprisingly, rivals are jumping on the Safari-gate bandwagon like hungry wolves feeding on a wounded fawn, with angry words flung like cannon balls. Mozilla Chief John Lilly has gone on the offensive, alleging that Apple’s software delivery method “borders on malware distribution practices. What Apple is doing now with their Apple Software Update on Windows is wrong.”

Harsh words. Next will come the accusation that Apple illegally ties its browser with the operating system. Sorry, Microsoft beat them to it.

InfoWorld: Apple’s Safari browser likened to malware

I’m not a daily Safari user – more of a Camino man myself – but I think all of us should be excited to see Apple pushing some standards forward with this morning’s Safari 3.1 update. Though it’s just a bug fix at first blush, the most significant change in this version is support for CSS Animations, CSS WebFonts, and HTML 5’s video and audio tags. Though WebFonts have shown up in other browsers, Apple is claiming to be first to support Animations and HTML 5 video and audio. And that’s great.

Here’s why: Adding support for standards never has an immediate impact. There simply isn’t much, if any content that Safari users can enjoy today that will make the upgrade worth it. But by building a platform with support for new features, the rest of the web – and other browsers – will start to come along, too. And that means heading toward a web that’s faster, more compelling, and more compatible. Nicely done, Apple.

To learn more about CSS Animations, head over to Snook.
For more on HTML 5 tags, head to W3C.

Int13, a prominent mobile games developer, has released a video showing its racing game, “Crazy Kart 2,” running on the iPhone. I hadn’t seen the title before, but I’m pretty impressed by the demo. Nice environments and graphics, wacky gameplay highly reminiscent of “Mario Kart,” but, you know, touch-controlled steering wheel! I can’t wait to see the state of the iPhone gaming platform a year from today…

Via iPhoneAlley

Just, um…21 years…after its predecessor, the long-anticipated “Return to Dark Castle” has finally been released for Mac OS X. This is some seriously old-school Mac gaming, stretching back to 1986 and the hey-day of WASD controls. I remember playing Dark Castle on a Mac SE FD/HD that I picked up from the local school district for a nominal fee. Truly innovative for its day, though Return to Dark Castle is all about staying true to the DNA. The screenshots look great, so if you’ve been itching to get some vintage exploration and adventuring on, get over to download a game more than two decades in the waiting.

Via Digg.

I’ve been saying for quite some time that the iPhone and iPod touch would eventually become killer gaming devices. Last week’s SDK presentation in Cupertino finally showed what was possible: Multi-touch and accelerometer-driven GameCube and PS2-quality visuals on the most compelling mobile multimedia platform in the world. It’s actually a lot better than what I was expecting in terms of 3-D visuals performance. Right now, it blows the DS and PSP away visually.

But does that matter? Do we need another portable games platform?

Yes. But not the way you might think. Though Apple is dazzling with visuals and gameplay from upcoming major publisher titles. And iPhone Spore and Monkey Ball will be cool, as will Pac-Man and the new version of Galaga that have been announced. But that’s not what will make the iPhone and touch must-have gaming platforms. What will make them take off and start to pull players away from PSP in particular will be the user-generated games. The creativity of the developer community. Anyone who comes up with a good game can get it published on the App Store and make some serious cash off of it if it takes off. That’s one hell of an incentive to break new ground. I’m tempted myself.

Now, on computers, and even on cell phones, user-designed games are a dime a dozen, and many of them are of far lower-quality than what the commercial publishers create. But this is different. This is a real platform with sophisticated tools available to everyone. There has never been a portable games platform of this power and pro-gaming features that has been this open to outsiders and upstarts. The DS is closed. So’s the PSP. Most cell phones have horrendous gaming interfaces. Keyboards and mice are great for MMORPGs and First Person Shooters but little else. The iPhone will be relatively open, has a great distribution model, and the best interface in the world for portable games.

So keep an eye out. I’m willing to forecast here and now that the best-selling game for iPhone by the end of 2008 will be made by a virtual unknown. Anyone throwing in?

In just four days, Apple has seen the iPhone SDK downloaded more than 100,000 times. In the release, Cupertino notes that ever more major developers are getting on-board with iPhone development, including blogging kingpins Six Apart and Pac-Man purveyors Namco.

I think that’s all fine and good, but I’m not excited to see what the existing powers can do with the iPhone. I’m psyched about what the freeware and shareware community can do on this platform, particularly for games. I have a lot more to say about that (see the previous post), but I’m most interested to hear if any of you are in the development community yet. If so, what are you working on? I’d love to spotlight some Apple fan creativity on this page.

At its developer event his morning, Apple showed off the iPhone and iPod touch OS 2.0, which is quite an amazing update. It’s got fully loaded Exchange ActiveSync support, a full SDK opening up the complete iPhone toolkit – Spore and Super Monkey Ball for iPhone and touch look awesome and will challenge the DS and PSP – and it’s just got everything that was missing from the original iPhone (though no word on cut and paste yet…).

It’s great – but it’s not shipping until June. The software is in Beta today (you can apply to participate here), and developers have access to download the SDK now. Appl software will be distributed through the iPhone Apps store, available in desktop iTunes and over-the-air iTunes. It’s a slick system, and free applications will carry no fee for developers or customers. Commercial apps will give Apple a 30 percent royalty “to maintain the cost of the Apps store” and 70 percent of revenue to the developer. It’s a little onerous, but it’s good visibility for developers. Beyond which, the upgrade is free to iPhone owners and a “nominal charge” for touch users, who get screwed again.

One more thing about “late June” – that’s the one-year anniversary of the iPhone’s release. And Apple calls it iPhone 2.0. I guarantee that there will be significantly upgraded hardware out there to ship at the same time. Can you say iPhone 3G? I knew you could!

Live from Apple’s iPhone SDK press conference – Engadget

Tags: iphone, ipodtouch, apple, stevejobs, sdk, enterprise

Apple’s teaser for tomorrow morning’s event was pretty explicit about the impending launch of the iPhone SDK, but some skeptics still remain. The ability to legitimately install additional software on the iPhone and iPod touch is the #1 request for Apple’s mobile platform, and we’ve been wrong before, but things look more and more like it will really happen.

Besides Apple releasing an image with the word “SDK” on it last week, GyPSii, a Dutch company that makes geo-location and real-world friend-finder software for cell phones, has announced that it will develop a version of its program for the iPhone. The more interesting part is this comment from the CEO:

Apple’s Software Developer Kit (SDK) which is scheduled to be launched later this week, providing seamless access for all Apple users, from the desktop, to the iPhone.

I think this is pretty much a done deal. I don’t think Apple will announce and then not ship the SDK. I think it will be available tomorrow, and there will be a bunch of high-profile apps waiting in the wings, including Lotus, and, the good lord willing, MS Exchange support. Those are the two ingredients holding iPhone back from mass corporate adoption. Fix that, and this will really explode.  

iPhone SDK This Week? So Says GyPSii – GigaOM

Tags: iphone, sdk, gps

The news we’ve been waiting on for more than a year has finally arrived. According to Gizmodo, Apple this morning sent out invitations to an event at Apple Town Hall in Cupertino on March 6th to launch the software developer kit for the iPhone. Of particular note on the “roadmap” image included with the invitation is the prominent sign reading “Enterprise.” This certainly connects with the rumblings of Lotus support that have emerged in the last few weeks, and I hope it means Exchange Active Sync support. If the iPhone has integrated push e-mail support for Exchange, Apple will really start to breathe down the necks of RIM, the top-selling North American smartphone maker. It would put Apple in line to really put iPhones in the pockets of a lot more executives immediately.

Very exciting. Stay tuned, folks. I really hope that Apple allows every application developer who’s interested to make their software available for the iPhone. That’s what’s made the underground iPhone app community so exciting – the sheer creativity of the freeware community.

Apple Event for the iPhone SDK: March 6th

Tags: apple, iphone, sdk, iphone sdk, iphonesdk, exchange, enterprise, software

Picture: Kitra Cahana/The New York Times

I’ve confirmed that the iPhone no longer runs software applications as “root” — but the iPhone is still insecure, a security expert says.

As reported on Wired.com, the iPhone used to run all software applications as “root” until recently, a flawed architecture that could give hackers complete control of the device. If hackers found a hole in any application, they could take over other functions, using the iPhone to make calls, take pictures or read and send email.

But last month Apple released a firmware update, version 1.1.3, that put most of the major applications in a new account called “mobile.”

While this is better than running all applications in root, it still lumps the applications together, which doesn’t much improve things: The same vulnerability still exits. If any one application is compromised, they are all vulnerable — and the iPhone can still be taken over, says Charlie Miller, principal analyst of software security at Independent Security Evaluators.

Dr. Miller was one of the first security experts to document the iPhone’s flawed architecture.

In a response to an email query sent yesterday, Dr. Miller writes:

Actually, the important apps have not been running as root at least since 1.1.3. See below. This is obviously better than running everything as root.

However, now they seem to run everything unimportant as the user “mobile”.

This doesn’t really solve their security problems because, for example, someone gaining access through a web server attack will still be able to access emails, dial the phone, etc. (At least it appears this way, I haven’t verified this).

A better approach would have been one like the folks at Google took with their Android SDK.

There, every application runs as a separate user in their own directory.

Therefore, each application cannot access the data of another application without the system having explicitly been told to allow it.

In the above example, an attacker who gains access to an Android phone through the web browser could only access things the web browser deals with, such as bookmarks.

They would not have access to mail contacts, saved messages, SMS messages, etc. (at least without doing a second type of attack).

Hope that helps.

Charlie

# uname -a
Darwin Charlie Miller’s iPhone 9.0.0d1 Darwin Kernel Version 9.0.0d1: Wed Dec 12 00:16:00 PST 2007; root:xnu-933.0.0.211.obj~2/RELEASE_ARM_S5L8900XRB iPhone1,1 unknown # ps aux
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TT STAT STARTED TIME COMMAND
mobile 62 2.8 20.3 325440 24080 ?? Ss 9:36AM 1:15.31 /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/SpringBoard
root 1 0.0 0.4 272956 444 ?? Ss 8:56AM 0:01.06 /sbin/launchd
mobile 12 0.0 1.4 286128 1604 ?? Ss 8:56AM 0:00.37 /usr/sbin/BTServer
root 13 0.0 1.3 282168 1556 ?? Ss 8:56AM 0:03.43 /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreTelephony.framework/Support/CommCenter
root 16 0.0 1.3 275864 1516 ?? Ss 8:56AM 0:15.53 /usr/sbin/configd
root 17 0.0 0.5 273404 592 ?? Ss 8:56AM 0:00.09 /usr/libexec/crashreporterd
mobile 18 0.0 1.4 284764 1632 ?? Ss 8:56AM 0:00.86 /System/Library/Frameworks/IAP.framework/Support/iapd
root 19 0.0 0.7 273732 880 ?? Ss 8:56AM 0:01.69 /usr/sbin/mDNSResponder -launchd
root 20 0.0 1.1 284208 1296 ?? Ss 8:56AM 0:01.25 /usr/libexec/lockdownd
root 21 0.0 0.4 274000 432 ?? Ss 8:56AM 0:07.57 /usr/sbin/syslogd
root 22 0.0 0.2 264644 276 ?? Ss 8:56AM 0:00.66 /usr/sbin/update
mobile 23 0.0 0.7 273576 792 ?? Ss 8:56AM 0:00.12 /usr/libexec/ptpd -t usb
mobile 24 0.0 1.7 290148 2072 ?? Ss 8:56AM 0:03.31 /usr/sbin/mediaserverd
root 26 0.0 0.4 273456 428 ?? Ss 8:56AM 0:01.14 /usr/sbin/notifyd
mobile 64 0.0 2.0 309600 2340 ?? S 9:36AM 0:00.93 /Applications/MobilePhone.app/MobilePhone –launchedFromSB –firstLaunch —
mobile 65 0.0 2.5 309112 2940 ?? S 9:36AM 0:02.78 /Applications/MobileMail.app/MobileMail –launchedFromSB –firstLaunch –su
root 81 0.0 7.8 315532 9324 ?? S 9:43AM 0:37.71 /Applications/Installer.app/Installer –launchedFromSB
mobile 82 0.0 12.7 321948 15036 ?? S 9:45AM 0:21.86 /Applications/MobileSafari.app/MobileSafari –launchedFromSB
root 97 0.0 0.6 273276 764 ?? S 9:54AM 0:00.81 /usr/sbin/sshd -i
root 98 0.0 1.0 274168 1164 p0 Ss 9:54AM 0:00.14 -sh
root 100 0.0 0.3 272876 332 p0 R+ 9:54AM 0:00.01 ps aux

Why was the iPhone architected like this, I asked Dr. Miller? His reply: “I think they did it that way because it was the easiest and quickest way to do it. They had a deadline, they had a great product and they wanted to get it out the door and start making money. Clearly, by not running things as root, they are going back and trying to make the things more secure now that the phones are out and in use. However, adding security after the fact if much more difficult (and expensive) then designing it in from the start.”

Apple on Tuesday released a 1.1.4 firmware update for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Available through iTunes, the update is a beefy 165-MByte download, but incredibly, adds no significant new features.

According to iLounge, which examined the update closely and quizzed Apple about it, it’s nothing but bug fixes.

The update is probably laying the groundwork for the iPhone SDK, which Apple promised to release this month.

The 1.1.4 update presents no problem to jailbroken iPhones, TUAW reports — which will be a moot point if sanctioned applications will be released shortly. Who wants to hack their iPhone to load applications if there’s a nice SDK a way to load them through iTunes?

DVDJon has broken Apple’s FairPlay DRM scheme, but the current implementation leaves a little bit to be desired, as new contributor fitterhappier notes in his comprehensive survey of the project.

Read fitterhappier’s story.

Mythical beast, adrenaline junkie and sometime digital revolutionary Jon Lech Johansen has fired the latest volley in the DRM wars, launching doubleTwist, software promising to make restrictions on purchased digital media a thing of the past. A grizzled veteran of the campaign against DRM, “DVD Jon” has been handing media companies defeat after defeat, nonchalantly toppling flimsy restriction schemes from DVD copy-protection to Windows Media to FairPlay, the encryption scheme “protecting” most purchases from Apple’s iTunes.

It’s not a great stretch to suggest that Johansen’s work has proved to the corporate world that DRM doesn’t work. Tech news outlets received the news of Jon’s calmly, reporting on the announcement with typical restraint and critical analysis. Oh my dear lord, no, they certainly did no such thing. DVD JON CREATES DRM KILLER, Slashdot reported. (“What, again?” responded thousands of readers the world over.) The truth is that doubleTwist is less a direct assault on DRM, like the Pickett’s Charge of Johansen’s PlayFair endeavor, than a preview of a DRM-free world. Bought your favorite album from iTunes and can’t wait to play it on your flavor of the month mobile phone? doubleTwist, it seems, can make it happen. Make the jump to read how.

What is the Matrix, Morpheus? Nicely done, Jirbo.

YouTube – The Matrix for the iPhone
Via Digg.

Tags: matrix, iphone, screensaver

Nilay Patel at Engadget has a fascinating post about Apple’s $20 charge for Mail, Maps and a few other apps on the iPod touch, allegedly because doing otherwise would run Apple afoul of Sarbanes-Oxley Act accounting requirements. Essentially, the argument goes, Apple is required to charge for any “major” features that aren’t enabled upon shipment for any product that doesn’t have its cost spread across a recurring subscription business model, as the iPhone and AppleTV are.

Which sounds plausible, until you realize that Apple has enabled such features as podcasts, search games and others for the iPod without charging for it. Not to mention which, iTunes is perpetually upgraded for free, no matter what you’re installing it on, whether you even own an iPod or not. Patel puts it well:

iPod name or no, the iPod touch is essentially a little computer, and the whole purpose of software is to enable “significant unadvertised new features” on a computer. For Apple (or anyone) to say that a mail app is a “significant new feature” for a computer is pushing the line just a bit far, and it makes us wonder how the company accounts for new versions of iTunes, QuickTime, and Safari, each of which add new features to already-sold Macs — and how things are going to play out when the iPhone / iPod touch SDK is released next month.

Seriously. Something stinks in Cupertino. Why the heck should a consumer have to care whether the device they buy gets reported as subscription revenue or not? That’s a company’s problem, and it’s goofy to discriminate between products on an arbitrary basis. Just sounds like a way to get some extra bucks out of touch owners to me.

Via Engadget.

Though I’m happy enough with OS X Mail.app, I am always on the look-out for great new freeware mail programs for the Mac that can out-do it. The most intriguing new kid on the block is Correo, which promises to blend Mozilla’s Thunderbird mail client with the beautiful interface of Camino, my favorite web browser ever.

It’s definitely early in its development cycle, but I’m interested to see where this goes. I love the features of Thunderbird, but its poor performance on my computer and bizarre non-standard UI always kept me from switching fully. Correo definitely appears to address the second part of that problem, at least. Once it gets above 0.5, I’m going to give it a shop. Anyone else tried it yet?

Via Digg.

Steve Jobs’ much-ballyhooed movie rental service looks all fine and dandy, but the question in my mind is: “How long will it be before the service offers a single decent movie to rent?”

At present, the movies on offer are even shittier than the local video store, or those available on-demand from my cable providor, Comcast, which utterly stinks.

It’d be depressing if all Apple offered was popcorn garbage. Surely the service is serving the wrong demographic. Early adopters, the kind that run out to buy an AppleTV box, are surely more interested in less mainstream fare. How long will it be before there’s some independent movies, classics, artsy fartsy foreign stuff, and genre titles?