Honestly, I’m willing to bet that most people think 46 inches is the perfect size for a television. Unless you have an unusually large room and sit 25 feet from your TV, there’s no need for something larger. In fact, if you think about bumping to 50, 60 or 70 inches, you’re not getting a better picture… you’re getting the same 1920 by 1080 resolution on a larger screen. That leads to pixelated images and a poorer viewing experience.

So let’s assume that 46 inches is the optimal size for a TV. What features are absolutely necessary? I’d start with LED backlighting because it produces a much brighter, cleaner image. As many interfaces as possible, HDMI, Component, VGA, DVI is cool too… but for most people, it’s just HDMI. Hertz: let the TV gods bring us Hertz. We’ve come to believe that a higher refresh rate (measured in Hz), the better the TV. I’m not here to discuss that, but higher Hz is cool, right? Speakers are unimportant; any home theater enthusiast would have their own speaker system (not built into the TV). Does anyone really care about 3D? I personally believe it’s a terrible fad that keeps rearing its ugly face every few years… and it hurts my eyes. I don’t really care about 3D, but we’ll add it to the list.

Let’s look at two 1080p LED HDTVs, one cheap, one expensive and compare them.

• Element 46” Class 1080p Edge Lit LED HDTV from Costco — $599
• Contrast Ratio — 4,000:1
• Refresh Rate — 60Hz
• HDMI — 3
• Component Video — 1
• 3D Ready? — Nope
• Samsung 46″ 1080p 3D LED-LCD HDTV from Crutchfield.com — $2,099
• Contrast Ratio – 25,000,000:1 dynamic
• Refresh Rate — 240Hz
• HDMI — 4
• Component Video — 1
• 3D Ready? — Yes

The Samsung TV isn’t your mom’s TV. It comes fully loaded with all of the goodies including apps to give you Netflix, Hulu, etc. The only thing it can’t do: stream the digital media content you already own. Tack on another $100 for an Apple TV and you’re good. Or… just save $1,500 and just buy the cheaper TV with the Apple TV for your digital media consumption. It would nearly mirror the features.

In the computer industry, Apple has been able to bring down its prices to a reasonable rate for most of their customers. The base model machines start around $1000 — that’s not bad considering the reliability and longevity that accompanies the purchase. If you’re shopping for a $300 netbook… you’re not Apple’s target market. In the TV industry, most people want a 46-inch TV at the cheapest possible price. They’ll even sacrifice features to keep the price low. If you want to walk away with a TV for under $1000 — congratulations, you’re the average consumer.

Only 80% of households have a computer.

99% of households in the US have at least one TV.

Most people want their TV for shows, movies and home videos, but very few of them are willing to pay a premium for those privileges. For that reason, we think Apple should stick to the digital media receiver instead of diving into the lucrative TV market. If they started making TVs, I think we’d see the price start between $1,500 and $2,000… much higher than I’d pay for a TV. If they kept improving the DMR, we’d see amazing new features added to the TVs we already own. Ding, ding, ding — we have a winner.

So what needs to change with the Apple TV so it can legitimately redefine home media consumption?

• Complete interface overhaul (courtesy of Siri)
• Honestly, Apple tried to simplify the remote a little too much with Front Row, and later, the Apple TV 2. There aren’t enough buttons for it to function as we expect. It takes forever to type anything and navigation is far from perfect. If you use the remote app on your iPhone, iPod or iPad, it definitely gets easier… but not could possible compare to voice commands.
• With Siri as our guide, it would be easy to say “Search Netflix for The Big Lebowski.” Siri would come back with, “I found The Big Lebowski on Netflix. Would you like to watch it?” Then I’d say, “No, but I’d like to give it a 5 star rating.” Siri: “Okay, I’ve given The Big Lebowski a 5-star rating on your Netflix account.”
• We still need a reasonable remote to help with account sign-in, initial setup, Wi-Fi passwords, etc.
• Apple TV App Store
• To go along with the Siri integration, it would be great to see Apple open the device to third party apps. Without that, they’re just throwing away cash (with $80M in the bank, they probably don’t care). Put Hulu on there, let Blockbuster compete with Netflix, give me weather reports and a decent web browser.
• Games are largely unnecessary. With iOS 5 mirroring, you can stream video directly from your iPhone or iPad in the style of Real Racing HD 2 — that game is awesome by the way. Honestly, the Apple TV could outperform the Wii pretty easily… but not much more than that. We don’t need another subpar gaming console; if they want to tackle the living game scene, they should create something we’ve never seen or expected.
• A little more storage
• 8GB is fine for a $99 DMR, but give us a 16GB option at $149. If an Apple TV App Store appeared, I’m sure I would fill 8GB of space pretty easily. Not to mention the extra space you would need to cache the movie you’re streaming from Netflix. Realistically, Apple should be shipping these with 16GB as the base, but they would surely have to raise the price. At $99 it’s a steal for what it does… at a higher price, it moves out of the impulse buy and into the “Do I need that?” sector.
• Faster processor
• For what it does, the Apple TV is pretty zippy but it could use a little more horsepower… something like a Quad-Core A6. No, we haven’t seen that yet, but I suspect that Apple already has it in the final testing stages and could be ready to reveal it this Spring with a new Apple TV and a new iPad.
• 1080p
• Seriously, why doesn’t the Apple TV stream 1080p video already? There has been discussion that Apple could enable it via a software update, but I doubt the A4 processor could handle that. The A5? Definitely. A Quad-Core A6? Yeah, baby.
• The biggest issue here: Apple doesn’t have any 1080p content on iTunes. Yeah… wow. They’d need to add a lot of movies to their servers in order to stream higher-quality content. That costs a lot of money to implement, hopefully it’s already happening.
• If they bumped all 720p rentals down to $2.99 and offered 1080p rentals at $4.99, I’m sure they’d see more people renting movies. I still see $4.99 as a pretty steep price for a movie rental. 1080p may bring me around.
• Being brutally honest, your internet connection probably couldn’t handle 1080p streaming. I shouldn’t be penalized for your slowness… but that’s not how Apple sees it. Only 66% of the US has broadband internet; that percentage even includes dirt-slow DSL lines that top out at 1Mbps download speeds. You’ll never watch a 1080p movie with a 1Mbps download speed. Realistically, you’d need a 20Mbps connection for smooth streaming.

That’s a lot to expect from the next Apple TV. I doubt that Apple will accomplish all of that without serious hardware upgrades. Serious hardware upgrades cost money. It’ll be difficult to keep a digital media receiver under $100 with more powerful hardware under the hood… but I hope they do it.

Lastly, please don’t make an actual TV. That would just be stupid.

I always say the 4S… but why?

Simply put: no one should ever buy an older generation of hardware because it saves a little money. Over the course of your contract, you end up paying the exact same amount for the cheaper phone as you would with the more expensive phone. Your wireless carrier doesn’t have to cough up as much money for the subsidized phone, but you still end up with the same bill every month. AT&T is offering the 3GS free with a two-year contract… that’s a hefty price to pay for old hardware. Here’s why:

Software Support

In November of 2010, Apple officially discontinued updates for the iPhone 3G with firmware version 4.2.1 — less than six months after they advertised 4.0 software support. No 3G owners will ever make it past the 4.2.1 milestone. We’re less than 3 months into the 5.0 software. What happens if Apple discontinues support for the 3GS at the six-month mark, just like the 3G? You’re stuck with 18 months (or more) left on your contract and no way to update your software. That’s awful, right?

Resale Value

Apple started selling “factory unlocked” iPhones in 2011. Until that happened, there was a market for jailbroken and unlocked phones… you could actually charge people a premium for the service. Now that Apple sells legitimately unlocked iPhones, the unlock market is all but nonexistent. In fact, most people who need an unlocked phone would rather pay Apple’s premium so they can always have the latest and greatest software. What’s the alternative? An unlocked phone running software that’s more than a year old. For most people, that’s not a good choice.

Currently, I can hop over to Craigslist and snag any iPhone 3GS for less than $200… and the majority of them are 16GB or 32GB. If I take that new-to-me iPhone 3GS to one of the sketchy iPhone repair shops on Craigslist, I could probably get a new battery installed for $15. That would put my maximum price at $215 for a new-to-me iPhone 3GS with a new battery — and I didn’t sign a new contract with AT&T. If I purchased an iPhone 3GS from AT&T for the grand total of free, I’d commit to a 2-year contract and have absolutely no resale value once my contract expires. Let’s not forget that my software support will expire long before my contract.

The same rules apply to the iPhone 4. A year from now, they’ll be the $200 iPhones on Craigslist. Right now, no one wants a 3G. No one will want the iPhone 3GS in a year. At least with the 4S, you’ll retain some resale value through the duration of your contract.

Features

Most people see an iPhone and think they’re all the same and equal in every aspect. They’re wrong. If someone wanted an iPhone 4S, you couldn’t pay them to use a 3GS. The technological differences between generations are astounding. Let’s take memory size as an example: the iPhone 3GS came in 16GB or 32GB but now only ships in the 8GB variation. The iPhone 4 came in the same variations — 16GB and 32GB — but now only ships in 8GB. The iPhone 4S ships in 16GB, 32GB or the massively awesome 64GB. The iPhone 4S is the only way to get a reasonable amount of memory for your phone. No one (who actively uses their phone for media consumption) will be able to survive on 8GB of space.

Camera, processor, gaming, etc. with every new iPhone each one of these aspects improves. You’re not getting the “iPhone Experience” without buying the latest and greatest.

The Ultimate Answer

This isn’t an argument for what’s cool or who has the biggest device in their pocket; this is an argument of what device is the most logical choice. Unless wireless carriers change how they handle subsidies, it will always be better to buy the latest and greatest iPhone. You’ll retain the largest resale value, the best features, current software support, better cameras, better call quality — the list goes on and on. If you gave a family member or friend (or even yourself) an older device for the holidays, we’re sorry to present you with the bad news after the fact… but you can still swap it out, right?

This site primarily focuses on technology news, our startup ideas and serves as a portfolio for the projects we’re working on or have already completed. There is a wealth of information here. We hope you enjoy it.

We’re also the creative minds behind Rocky Mountain Mac Repair and the blog content of MacWorks Inc. RMMR and MacWorks have joined forces to bring you the best in Apple Support and Repairs. All of those requests actually fall under the MacWorks umbrella.

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This partnership comes soon after Square announced Inner Square: a program designed to help top Square users promote the swipers to their customers and other potential Square users. Each interested Square user had the opportunity to sign up for the program by April 1st. These people will receive 50 card readers to share with others, promote their businesses on the Square map and receive a free t-shirt from Square.

We were worried that the new partnership with Apple would limit, if not destroy, the grass roots Inner Square. The traffic generated by Apple Stores will be much larger than any grass roots program. We shot @Jack a quick message on Twitter and he let us know that it’s still happening. We couldn’t be more excited.

We love grass roots programs and really think Square’s making wonderful marketing choices with campaigns like that. They are taking the credit card world by storm… even if some companies are trying slanderous scare tactics to harm this great startup. Credit Card processing companies should be scared. Soon everyone with an iPhone or iPad will have the ability to process credit cards with a free accessory and low fees. They’re shaking in their boots.

We obviously wish great luck to the @Square team. They’ve helped us modernize our business and we’re stoked to see them continue rapid growth.

I knew eCamm as an accessories company several years ago but after doing a bit of research, it looks like they have quite a bit of software available as well. The biggest of those right now is Printopia 2.0. This Mac app allows you to print to any connected printer from your iOS device running 4.2 or later. I put it through the paces this morning because several people had asked me if it was a good solution. I never really understood the value of printing from my iOS device until I tried this app.

I’ve had a network printer here at the office for several years… because of its age; it’s not “AirPrint Compatible.” Lately, my wife has been using the iPad more frequently and has purchased movie tickets from fandango, airline tickets for an upcoming vacation and a couple sets of tickets to the Colorado Rockies. Every time she does that I hear, “Why can’t I print from this thing?” I was tired of explaining that “We can, we just don’t have a compatible printer.” After a few more instances and a request from a client, I decided to give Printopia a shot.

By just installing the app and configuring the printer, I had no comprehension of the application’s power. I read through the bullet points on their website and setup a print folder in Dropbox and the ability to send things directly to Evernote. That was pretty much all I needed… but there are options for almost every installed application and unlimited virtual printers that allow you save to specific folders on your Mac. I definitely was not a fan of eCamm’s decision to throw a couple default folders into my file system. Both my Dropbox share and my Documents folder ended up with a “Printopia” folder. Of course, I deleted them and now I’m on my merry printing way.

As I mentioned earlier, this is version 2.0. If you’ve used a previous version of the application, here’s what eCamm says is different:

4/14/11 – v2.0: Configure an unlimited number of “Save to Mac” virtual printers, each saving to a different folder on your Mac. Virtual printers can now send files directly to a Mac app or a PDF Workflow (the options that show in the PDF menu, for example “Save PDF to Web Receipts”.) Adds password security for any real or virtual printer. Configure all printer settings such as paper size, paper tray and color settings. The names of virtual printers can now be changed. Fixes for compatibility with certain printers. Other minor fixes and enhancements. Printopia v2.0 Demo resets the demo period, allowing users who tried earlier versions to have a new seven day trial.

So how did it work? Splendidly. I tried it from my iPhone 4 and iPad 2 — they printed perfectly to my computer, saved a pdf directly to Dropbox and popped open Evernote so I could save the document there. When you print a document to a folder (like Dropbox), you can have it open automatically or just sit there for later, whenever you decide to use it. I’m glad that I can define a virtual printer for any folder destination: this is something that should be built into all of Apple’s software. I know that I’ll use the app all the time… it’s definitely one of the better $20 investments I’ve made.

If you have any questions about the software, let me know. I’ll see what I can do to help answer them.

When I initially heard about TweetBot, I thought, “Dear, God… another Twitter client for the iPhone?” After reading tweet after tweet coming through our @socialapples twitter account, I finally decided to take it for a spin. I didn’t know what to expect. I heard that the user interface design was amazing; that it was better than the actual Twitter application (what isn’t?) and that people were impressed with the amount of thought that went into the app. When you enter the twitter client market so late in the game, you need a great app. Let me tell you this, they almost have the perfect Twitter client.

TapBots impressed me with their Lists features right off the bat (take a look at the gallery below). I have been organizing all of my Twitter accounts into lists so I’m not completely overwhelmed with tweets every time I login. Before TweetBot, I was using Twitter’s client and it didn’t have good list management. I had to tap into my profile every time I wanted to view a list… no thanks. TweetBot makes that easy and gives you one tap access to all of your lists for each account. Awesome.

Speaking of beautiful, the UI (user interface) design is stunning. There’s not one ounce of recycled design. They started from scratch and thought, “How do we want this to look?” They ended up with my favorite UI of any app I’ve every used in the App Store. I do not make that statement lightly. It’s all easy to understand and very intuitive. For the denser people in their audience, they’ve included a short tutorial of the app that appears on first launch. It tells you about Lists, Conversations and Related tweets, double tap and triple tap functionality, and the customizable tab bar at the bottom of the Timeline.

If you tap into Settings, then scroll to the bottom and tap Support, then tap View Help, you’ll find the initial tutorial. They also have a list of FAQs and tips there. My favorite tip was how quickly you can report a spammer from TweetBot. Just tap and hold the user’s avatar. An action list appears that allows you to follow, unfollow, add to list, direct message or report them for spam.

So what’s missing? It’s easy to sit on twitter and do a search for TweetBot. There are 40 to 50 tweets going out about it per minute. The biggest complaint everyone has is the lack of landscape mode. I’ve personally never used it, so I don’t miss it at all. In fact, I hate landscape mode on the iPhone in general… the lack of vertical height kills me. Another is the lack of push notifications: something else I don’t want from my Twitter client. I’d be vibrating all day… and I don’t view that as a good thing. All of the other ‘problems’ that come up are either available in the app (and people don’t know it) or non-issues for me. Either way, you can’t stupid-proof an app… it’s just not possible.

I can say it enough: this is one of the best iOS apps I’ve seen in a long time. I hope they make it universal and develop an iPad app. I primarily tweet from my phone but it would be awesome to see what innovative things TapBots could come up with on the larger screen. Congrats, TapBots, TweetBot is a wonderful app.

What do you think TweetBot is missing?

One of my favorite games growing up was Need for Speed: High Stakes. That game owned me for a whole summer. The gameplay of Asphalt 6 brings me back to the same simple premise: race and upgrade. The driving method is like nothing else thanks to the great control scheme that uses the accelerometer and the added gyroscope in iPad 2. The auto accelerate system really adds to the gameplay as well. I’m the kind of racer that always has a finger on the gas pedal and move it only to break. With their new control scheme, you only have to worry about breaking… it makes it easier to focus on turns and your nitro boosts. The new drifting scheme is also very user-friendly: tap the breaks and give a quick jolt in the direction you want to drift. It couldn’t be easier. I did end up drifting the wrong direction a few times throughout the career mode — I’d begin to adjust for my turn, tap the break and drift the wrong direction because the accelerometer hadn’t caught up with my movement. I adjusted my playing style to tap the breaks a little later and all was well.

Gameloft broke up the game into five different racing styles: Normal Race, Beat ‘em All, Elimination, Collector and Duel. Every race has extra stars that you can gain by completing the Extra Bonus requirements. Let’s look at the different styles.

• Normal Race — This is exactly what it sounds like. You have to be first to win. If you want to advance to the next race, you have to finish in the top three positions. Most of the time, the extra bonuses are based on drift points (how long you drift during the race), takedowns (the number of cars you knock out of the race) or money collection (a dollar amount related to the money signs collected during the race).
• Beat ‘em All – This race isn’t really a race at all. It’s designed for brutal carnage towards the other cars. To win this race, you have to takedown the required number of cars before the time runs out. We found a couple strategies that worked well: drifting to fill you adrenaline bar or slamming the opponents into the wall. Slamming cars into the wall can be dangerous… if you don’t time it correctly, you could ending up wrecking your own vehicle. Once you get good at drifting, adrenaline will become your best friend for these races. I’ve taken out everyone in the race within a few seconds while on adrenaline. Anytime you touch an opponent, they immediately crash when you’re on adrenaline.
• Elimination – A clock counts down the seconds and every time it hits zero the person in last place is kicked from the race. You don’t have to be winning the race the whole time to complete this race; you just have to end up in first place at the end. It’s an interesting twist that gives you a little more variety throughout career mode.
• Collector — The object is to get the most “pick-ups” (the purple dollar signs) in the race. The more you collect, the less money your opponents will be able to make. You don’t really win this race, you complete it or you don’t. You get a few minutes to obtain the pick-up goal. If you don’t get there, you lose.
• Duel – The hardest racing style in the game. The instructions tell you to use shortcuts and drift to beat your opponent. Their car is always faster than yours is… there’s not much you can do about that. The only way you’ll get five stars in these races is to beat them by a margin of 12+ seconds. If you don’t know the track by heart, know all of the good shortcuts (not every shortcut is worth taking), know the best places to drift and maximize your adrenaline, then you probably won’t win… especially in the later races. Quick tip: if you’re having a hard time defeating your opponent in a duel: change your car and try again. Each car has a couple different opponents and some of them are much easier to beat. Faster is not always better.

It took me about a week to complete the career mode in my spare time. I mistakenly completed the last race before getting five stars in the Moscow Duel so my completed screen says I only got 99% of the stars. You can see in the gallery below that I went back and finished the duel to get 100% completion. I’ve since moved onto online races. During what you would expect to be high-traffic times (evenings and weekends), I can get into a race without much issue. Any other time of day and it could take more work to get into a race than to beat everyone in it. As with any online game, there are obviously people who have spent the majority of their in-game time online and others who have barely touched it. After completing the career mode with five stars, I found that I was dominating most of the online races… but there are always people who will surprise you.

I’ve played the Mac counterpart on my iMac and it just doesn’t compare. I’d enjoy it more if they upgraded the graphics engine to actually suit a computer but right now, it looks terrible on my 27-inch iMac. Add the lack of real-time steering and it just isn’t the same. It’s infinitely better on the iPad than on the Mac.

Ultimately, this game is pure racing. No distracting shift mechanism, no weird steering technique — just drive and enjoy the beautiful graphics. If you’re looking for a great racing game for your iPad 2, this one is definitely worth the $6.99.

[iTunes Link]

It took me a couple hours to work my way up through all of the ranks. The game itself wasn’t very challenging, but I’d put it on par with Angry Birds in terms of playability, time wasting capabilities and overall enjoyment. I’d like to see longer rounds, objects that interfere with your free fall and more things during each round. I think the gameplay would improve and be even more addictive if it were a little more complicated. But that’s a hard balance: the ease of play is what makes me open Penguin Airborne when I have a few minutes to kill.

The game is free. You can disable ads with a $0.99 in-app purchase. You can also unlock all of the ranks with another $0.99 in-app purchase.

They made the case out of thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU for short). It’s polyurethane plastic that ends up feeling rubbery due to its elasticity but also has a strong resistance to the greasy oils on your hand. The cover will actually latch to the iPad glass by utilizing a technique that Speck is calling “micro-suction.” They shaped the TPU into tiny suction cups that will keep the case closed without the magnets.

The lack of a sleep magnet is not a deal breaker for me. I’ve been toting my iPad 2 around like a baby because I’m afraid I will scratch the aluminum back case. I tend to sell my old devices and buy the new one when it comes out… I’d like to keep it as protected as possible. I put in a couple inquiries to the Product Development Team at Speck to see if they’d be willing to comment on the magnet. I also asked if we could expect to see a case that works around Apple’s Smart Cover. I’ve been thinking about this since I purchased the device on day one. There’s plenty of space above and below the magnetic hinge to use a similar TPU material to just cover the back aluminum. We’ll see if the Speck Product Development Team has anything to say about upcoming products for the iPad 2 and keep you informed.

The PixelSkin HD Wrap wasn’t the only iPad 2 case to show up in their store today… they also released the iGuy standing cover designed for the iPad and iPad 2. You can see it in the gallery below. If you have kids, it may be a great buy. If you’re still trying to attract a mate who will eventually have kids with you, I’d suggest avoiding it for now.

Hey everybody,

We’re hanging out here at the Aspen Grove Apple Store in Littleton, CO. We’re up with Steve and Erica from TUAW near the front of the line. Come say, “Hi.” if you’re here as well. We’re just posting a couple photos from the line right now… we’ll have full coverage of many iPad-2-optimized applications over the weekend. We’re starting with GarageBand, iMovie, Real Racing HD, Infinity Blade, etc. Let us know if there is anything you’d like us to cover as well. Thanks!