Writely switch to Google accounts

Writely has completed the switch to Google accounts for its logins. At first I was confused, cos reading the help it looked like they created a new Google account, but I didn't see anything about merging with an existing Google account.

Today I found that you can move your docs from the old account to your existing Google account. So that worked out fine. I can't wait to see integration with other Google services.

Apple's streaming video

For the first time I watched the streaming of the entire presentation by Steve Jobs, which you can find here. It's a little over an hour long, and even though I already knew everything he said, I was still entertained by him.

He is a very good speaker, and the presentation material is excellent. I like how every once in a while he will sit down on a Mac and demo the new features.

Watching Jobs in action did make me change one opinion: iTunes 7 looks very good. I am now tempted to download it. I am afraid that it will break my podcatcher, but I am even willing to risk that in order to try the new iTunes features. However there will be bugs on Windows, so I still will wait.

Also the games on iPod 5G look very cool, but I won't be able to buy them anyway. The iPod 5G is also very cheap especially for its 80GB version.

Steve Jobs is very good.

Apple Showtime

Go here for details on Apple announcement. Here are my thoughts:

• iPod 5G: disappointed that it's not the widescreen video, but we knew it was too early. This is a good upgrade, if I didn't know about the possible widescreen video I would get this. Games are also cool, though I will never be able to buy them in China...
• iPod Nano: they now look like the old Mini, just thinner. I prefer the more squarish design of the first Nano. Colors will surely appeal to girls, I am happy with my black. The difference between 4GB and 8GB is a lot, but not enough to hold an entire music collection.
• iPod Shuffle: now this I am tempted to buy, even though I already have the first Shuffle. It's just so tiny and cheap. Although the first Shuffle with a headphone/lanyard combo is more wearable than the new one, since there's no cable cluttering.
• iTunes 7: iTunes on PC never works very well at first, so I will wait for bug fixes before upgrading. It also almost always breaks my podcatcher integration, so I'll wait. I don't think I am going to use Cover Flow though, since I rip all my music and I don't have covers. And since I don't have an iTunes account, I can't download cover art freely.
• Movie Download: prices are reasonable, video quality seems good. Catalog is very limited, for the moment. Hopefully more studios will jump onboard. But what I think Jobs is counting on to make this successful is...
• iTV: so that you can stream what you download from iTune Store to your TV. I have my PC wired to my TV, so I can watch video on my TV. But my PC is in the living room, which is not very beautiful. So video streaming is something I would use everyday. Waiting for 2007 Q1...

These are the highlights. My wife and wallet are happy that there's nothing I want to buy at the moment, apart from the inexpensive Shuffle.