apple

The new iPhone speaks to them

iPhone line

CKP took this photo this morning on Boylston Street, where iPhoniacs began lining up last night to be the first to get a new phone. No doubt it would be pointless to attempt a Venn diagram showing the overlap between this group and the group of Verizon workers and Occupy Boston supporters outside the Verizon Store on Washington Street downtown yesterday evening:

Verizon protesters

How do you watch TV?

Whether you’re someone who sits on the couch with the cat or time shifts your entertainment and loads it onto your mobile device, technology has changed our TV watching.

These days - and maybe you already have one - there are Apple TV devices, Roku boxes, Google TV and many more so-called connected TV devices. And these types of technology have opened up the capability for people to enjoy their entertainment.

To that end, as I type this there are five entertainment and tech industry executives sitting in bar stools at the front of a Hill Holliday conference room in downtown Boston. These TV pros have their own opinions about how you should watch TV. Whether you believe them or step into line with their wishes is really up to you.

So who are they and what are they saying? On the panel are: Aaron McNally of Google TV; Anderw Kippen of Boxee; Greg RIvera of Xbox; Chas Smith of Roku; and Tara Maitra of TIVO.

When asked by Hill Holliday’s Mike Proulx, “Who are these devices for?” the panelist responded as follows...

Twitter and TV integration: Good or bad?

Here are a handful of additional thoughts from today’s TVNext Summit at Hill Holliday in downtown Boston. Specifically, one of the hosts, Mike Proulx asked about the mindset behind using social media tools as an adjunct to TV entertainment. This includes Facebook, Twitter and other tools.

Here’s how the panel responded...

We Watch TV FIVE HOURS a Day on Average... WHAT?

Covering technology events is a breeze, but sometimes - as with today’s #TVNext panel in Boston at Hill Holliday - you sometimes run into a challenge. Today's event is a challenge for me because I've already heard some astonishing facts and it's only 10AM. We now watch TV five hours a day, on average, in America.

Let me paint the picture and then I'll share where that five-hour figure came from.

Sitting on the 35th floor at a State Street high rise, about 100 or so broadcast pros, media reps, social media folks and marketing people have gathered to hear where TV is headed. Specifically, they are anxious to find out the new ways in which viewers consumer content and embrace entertainment.

Globe columnist discovers capitalism

Yvonne Abraham breaks the news that Apple opened a store on Boylston Street last week and expresses her discomfort on learning that Apple is a for-profit concern and her amazement that, despite that, some people really like its products.

Humble suggestion: This is the sort of thing that would make a more worthy metro column.

The Apple store is melting in the dark

Mike the Mad Biologist discovers first hand that that cool, cool minimalism of the new Apple store on Boylston street kinda sucks when it's raining:

... Then there's the elegantly designed minimalist interior which has no carpeting. That means that everyone's umbrella piddles on the floor and leaves puddles everywhere.

So the Apple Store devised a solution: at the door, you have to enclose your umbrella in a plastic bag to prevent umbrella piddling. Of course, this is described as "ensuring your safety." And it's environmentally friendly to boot. So now you're in the store, into which people are tracking dirt and mud--there's no rug to wipe your feet. Minimalist interiors with light gray floors don't look so good with mud (and umbrella piddle). ...

And all that's before you even get to the plastic staircase.

It's Here

The media were able to tour the new Apple Store on Boylston Street yesterday. Dan Moren with MacUser has some interesting thoughts on what's going to happen to the hollow glass column running down the center of the spiral staircase.

The public grand opening is at 6 PM today. 2,500 limited edition T-shirts are being given away.

Apple Store Openes May 16th, Largest in the World

The Apple store on Boylston Street is set to open on May 16th at 6 PM. It is reportedly the largest such store in the world.

Looks like Back Bay Apple fans will have to keep driving to the 'burbs

Or take the T out to Cambridgeside Galleria.

The Globe reports on a meeting of the Back Bay Architectural Commission in which you can almost hear the grinding wheels in members' heads slowing to a halt because Apple has dared to propose replacing a completely non-descript two-story building with a three-story glass building right across from or near some of our city's most treasured architectural icons, such as the World's Largest Milk Carton, the Giant Sun-Blocking-Wall Convention Center and the Darth Vader Building.

Donna Prince, an alternate on the commission, acknowledged that the design was "beautiful," but that it "doesn't have a sense of place."

Ah, sense of place. Maybe Apple needs to come back with a design consisting entirely of red bricks. After all, what says "Boston place" more than bricks? With awnings, since the commissioners seemed particularly concerned about preserving the current copy shop's awnings, because, Lord knows, Boylston Street doesn't have nearly enough awnings.

Apple's Quest for World Domination Reaches Boston

The Globe has announced that Apple is building a flagship 4 story monster on Boylston in the Back Bay. (goodbye copy-cop) It's just going to make it easier to convert every family member, friend, acquaintance, back-bay-bum to switch. And I won't even have to pay for parking like I do currently at Cambridgeside galleria.