Just picked this up via bb’s post, that Ryan Carson is saying client/server MVC is soooooo old school (some might say dead). From his post:

… The basic client-server model still dominates. Objective-J and SproutCore change all that. They allow you to create true desktop-like apps right inside the browser. They don’t rely on a continous web connection and they are as quick as desktop apps.

Ahhh .. yep. Already on it. In fact, got a demo app here that pretty much blows away Sproutcore’s demo. It’s got all the good oil .. static app download, service layer, rich and stateful UI. This ain’t Silverlight or AIR, it’s straight up JavaScript/HTML/CSS.

Of course you’ve got Dojo, Mootools, GWT, Prototype, TIBCO GI, YUI, Ext JS .. the list goes on (I actually use an old library, the domAPI as the basis of my custom widgets). However *none* of these toolkits tackle statefull in-browser navigations. Check this out, here’s our in-store system:

See all those buttons down the bottom? They’re our modules. Members is currently highlighted .. that’s the Members module. Now, lets say I see a problem with some movie data, I hit the Titles button and we go to the Titles module, which is our movie CMS. Now the hip thing is that when we fire up the Titles module, the members module is left in tact. It’s statefull. I can switch back to it and hey-presto .. it’s as I left it. I can then switch back to the Titles module, and still be mid-edit on 3:10 to Yuma. This behaviour is incredible. It means you can context-switch in between doing anything, and not lose where you were.

You might notice these modules aren’t exactly light-weight either. The members module has 4 tabs, 3 internal windows, search drop down and 3 sortable grids. Our movie CMS has 5 tabs, 3 colour pickers, 6 sortable grids, tinyMCE embedded, 7 internal windows and numerous lookups. The other modules are equally hairy. It can take 15 seconds for our Titles modules to fire up .. but once it’s instantiated it stays there and keeps it’s state. From then on, navigating to it is instantaneous.

I’d love to open source the APPLEBOX app framework and help spread this new paradigm of web development. But right now my focus is on APPLEBOX as a business .. and that’s a very different beast to getting the technology right.

Got waaay too much business doco to churn out at the moment to be watching TV or flaffing about checking out download services. But just picked this up via Macrumours: TV shows are now available on ITunes AU. So I had to give it a go.

I went to download Lost, Season 4 Ep1. $2.99 for the single ep, or $41.86 for the season. This is interesting because:

1. Lost Season 4 isn’t yet available via retail DVD here yet
2. Prices seem reasonable. Lost Season 3 costs $68.77 on iTunes but $90 at ezydvd! The retail DVD comes packed with plenty of special features and extras, but that ain’t worth $20 in my books.

So ep1 (@43 minutes long) weighed in at 500 MB and took about 10 minutes to download. For the complete Season 4 of 14 episodes that’s a mighty 7 gig to download. Try Season 3 at 23 episodes and that’s 11.5 gig. On my home optus cable limit of 12 gig, season 3 of Lost would wipe me out. Downloading at off-peak rates (midnight - midday which gives me 24 gig allowance) is better, but the season download will still grab half.

At this download size the resolution is near-DVD quality. In a purely empirical test the ‘actual’ playback window on a DVD is bigger than the Lost window .. hence Lost runs at a lower resolution. Of course when you put it next to some hi-def content (eg http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/walle/hd/) you immediately see how aged SD (Standard Definition) really is. HD resolution is stunning. When you upgrade to a flat panel you’d be crazy not to grab a Blu-ray player. HD will blow out that Lost Ep from 500 Mb to 3Gig (1min playback =11Mb to 1min=70Mb at 1080p) and the full season to 70 Gig. Yikes!!

I need Apple TV. My association with TV and movies is chill-time, and I’ve got thousands of dollars tied up in couches, coffee table, TV, DVD player and lighting to create a space that makes watching the box pleasurable. So like FTTN, until the last leg of delivery of video to my lounge room and TV is sorted, downloads just won’t grab for me. Apple TV could change this .. especially when rentals become available.

That last leg of delivery is crucial for the emergence of VOD and the downloads business .. let’s see where it goes ..

I didn’t like the musical, it’s too gory for me… But I still watched as I love Johnny Depp, Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter. Masterful film making again by this talented group of artists but I just don’t like the musical!! One for the fans only I think… but it has reviewed so well I can’t help thinking I have a real thing against the whole slitting throats pie making plot!

What a gem of a film. Set in the first world war based on the life of a quirky maitre d’ whose life takes some pretty crazy twists and turns. Beautifully written, hysterical scenes and one that you could easily miss but DON’T!

Brilliant. Great to see Ang Lee doing a Chinese language film again and a film he says was really important to him to share the pre Cultural Revolution history of his parents before it is lost. Set in Japanese occupied Shanghai and Hong Kong this story has it all; espionage, twists, turns, love, sex, culture and war. Beautifully shot, written and directed. A great tale that takes you on quite a ride. Oh and the actors are flawless, one of those films that you forget you are watching actors from the beginning to the end.

An hysterical Japanese film based on a true story set in a poor coal mining town that turned to creating “Hawaii” in their town to save it. We follow the journey of a group of coal miners daughters struggling against the expectations of the poor rural traditional village to become Japan’s greatest Hawaiian dance troupe. The film is heart felt and some what surprising in it’s brutally honest characters who show none of the suppression of emotion and “face saving” behaviour I am accustomed to in Asian cultures.. they are over the top, emotional and VERY entertaining. Gem of a film. Laughed out loud a lot, shed a few tears and beamed with pride and wonder too.

How quickly the month rolls around. So the details are

Tuesday 1st July, 6.30pm
Everest Restaurant Wine Bar (Cnr Station St and Wingrove St, Fairfield)
Movie - “Across the Universe”

Let us know in store, by email or on the blog if you are interested in coming and haven’t already been in touch. Last months was great and we are hoping the movie club becomes something really good for the APPLEBOX community, book clubs require a lot of time unless you are a fast reader so here’s the alternative.

VOD (Video on Demand) is a marketer’s dream. Why? Because the sense of inevitability about it. It just makes sense doesn’t it? OF COURSE we’ll all be downloading and watching on our TVs. And we’ll be doing it tomorrow.

It’s a great lead in, for eg this article about EzyDownload, EzyDVD’s resurrection of Reeltime.TV begins “With the future of DVD clearly headed for the downloaded dustbin of history.. “. keh? based on what evidence? A flotilla of failed download services that litter almost every continent across the globe?

Unfortunately inevitability does not make a business case. Otherwise we’d all be driving electric cars by now. There are so many points of weakness in the whole VOD delivery path that in fact, big fat broadband pipes are the least of the VOD market’s problems.

The humble DVD will be with us for many, many, many years to come. That’s one thing you CAN bet on.

Ross Dawson has been busy compiling 100 web 2.0 applications around Oz for Business Review Weekly. It’s a pretty good question, ‘are there actually 100 web2 apps downunder?‘, well here they all are: