obelix

FWIW, I have created a HN stream and added ~40 of you who sent emails. You should be able to signup to google+ using that. If it tells you to retry later, please do that. It works - eventually.

If you need an invite, please email me at lists at anands dot net. I have a few, will add you all when they re-open invite feature.

Please say Google+ in the subject and it would be helpful if you spell out your email in the body.

I will add it once they re-open invite.

https://plus.google.com/107117483540235115863/posts/PhJFJqLy...

fk, you just described my life. I live in a fantastic bubble and work in a fantastic bubble. I travel in a car driven by my driver and I pretend the in between doesn't exist.

As an entrepreneur who moved to Bangalore recently, I completely agree to Sridhar's post here.

My 2 paise - do a India based / focused startup, just live outside India's cities (if you can't live outside India, that is).

Slashtags are a neat idea, can't wait to try it out.

Thanks for the lifehacker link. That would have saved me a couple of hours.

My experience has been horrible. I noticed bad slowdown in every app launching immediately after the upgrade. Apps took 30 secs to 1 min to launch (twitter, lose it, even calculator).

It progressively got slower. Keyboard response ground to a halt. It would take 3-5 secs for the keyboard response to show up on screen.

It became an useless paper weight.

I tried restore to 3.1.3 a few times and I would give up at the 1015 error and restore back to 4.0, which was probably a "clean" install. It didn't fix it.

The primary feature I was interested in was the orientation lock which is not available in iPhone 3G. Threaded email is nice, but not a deal breaker, same with folders.

Got it working. I followed the instructions and got stuck with error 1015.

I had to do two things.

1. Switch of your iPhone and put it in DFU mode with following instructions - Click the Home + Power On button for 10 seconds exactly - Release the power button and continue to click on Home

2. Restore and it fails with Error 1015.

3. Run iRecovery -s followed by fsboot, following http://www.ihackintosh.com/2009/09/recover-iphone-3gs-from-a...

I am back with 3.3.1 Thanks a lot guys.

Apple people are Bastiat fans. Who knew? :)

http://goo.gl/5jEe

Didn't work. Restore failed. Trying to restore to iOS4 now.

Trying now, thanks.

Do you mean a restore and reinstall all your apps?

I have read this a few times now about Apple trying to get a low cost TV package for iTunes.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15121131?IADID=Search-www.merc...

I think until they can pull it off, AppleTV would remain crippled.

That is correct. Hence my gripes towards the mini - it wasn't designed to be a digital media player, whereas the AppleTv is (HDMI, optical out). If it supported 1080p and was open, it would be the device. The boxee box could have been the device, but now I am going to wait for the logitech device.

I have two iMacs which already do what you say (Drobo as well). Don't want another device hooked there.

Have you tried it? It crashes the Apple Tv about twice a day, I reverted back to the Apple Tv OS.

You are right.

Apple TV should have been this product, if it was open and allowed you to browse any website and ran flash, it didn't.

Boxee would be this product if it had shipped a box that worked with the TV. (Yeah, I know about the boxee box). The difference is Google has the muscle to close the loop on this one.

The others are all closed at various levels or lack developer traction.

Boxee is the closest in terms of being open, I was hoping to replace my apple tv (had it from day 1 and use it for my videos and photos)

Exactly. If that happens and casual games make it to the TV through this, fun times ahead.

Even otherwise, whoever can handle web flash games correctly with the controller (expect Logitech to nail this again) will win.

oh, for the demo they showed a keyboard and an android phone as well. The input device / controller is going to vary based on provider. I can imagine there will be many remotes with built in keyboards something like this:

http://www.productwiki.com/upload/images/d_link_boxee_box_re...

Yes, it definitely is more functional. Every now and then I am tempted to spend the $600 for a dedicated mini, but why bother?

If a boxee box does the job for $200, has 1080p, 7.1 out, 802.11n / Gig.E why bother spending $600?

I hope the Logitech setup GoogleTv box does the job.

You are correct in some ways. But no true optical audio out? You use a Toslink to Optical converter, I read that getting 7.1 out of it was not possible. Not sure about 1080p playback.

Oh, $600 for the mac mini vs $200 for something like the Boxee box / Logitech control box (hopefully $200)

All said and done, Mini is not the ideal box for the consumer, geeks can get it to work, but most people can't.

Plugging your computer to your TV is not an option unless you have a dedicated computer plugged to your TV. Then you want the computer to be quiet, small and not FUGLY.

You want the computer to be operated by a small keyboard and a remote rather than a mouse.

And you want your computer to have digial out, handle 7.1 surround and have appropriate software to handle GPU encoding etc. When you add that up, the cost goes high.

Hence, something like the logitech box or the boxee box (appropriately priced)will do the job without another computer. (I own an apple tv)

AppleTv got it right - other than the closed / crippled part.

The difference being boxee never got it shipped with a box (yeah I know about the boxee box which hasn't shipped yet). Google with its muscle can get it done. Built into Sony Tv, logitech box, built into dish network - done.

BTW, boxee can't mix and match TV programs and web - this can. You can't do a google search when watching TV through boxee.

This takes the integration to the next level, IMHO.

Rishi mentioned hardware decoding using GPU.

Local media was not mentioned, but I don't see something like the Logitech box NOT doing local media. If not, I expect someone to write an Android app for it instantly.

Imagine the possibility of an open API.

Heh, will it play Hulu running on that ugly Flash? Will it do Youtube streaming?

I bought the AppleTv on day 1 and use it a lot, but I will never pay Apple to see content that is free on the internet. Why would I pay iTunes when I can see The Daily Show at thedailyshow.com?

Lame. Until apple allows a fully functional browser on the AppleTv, they are dead.

RIP AppleTv. Apple had 3 years to do this and they missed it.

Android apps on the TV. The first person who gets the games to work with Logitech Controller or any generic controller will win - big.

This thing can dent iPhoneOS big time.

Scott

You are assuming that I haven't talked to my co-founders. Seeing how I was struggling with my financial issues, my CEO was the person who suggested that I go look for consulting positions to keep myself happy and motivated to continue with the startup. fwiw, I have worked with this team for the better part of 9 years now - I wouldn't do anything to harm them. We are way more than colleagues at this point in time of our lives.

jhancock - thanks a lot for your suggestion. That is what I am trying to do as well.

As someone who quit my job 4 months ago to co-found my first startup (not funded yet), this essay is chicken soup.

Thanks PG.

Thanks, I have emailed them already. Appreciate your reply.