I started out by looking at the video and audio tracks of the Matroska file with Mediainfo Mac. I discovered that the video track was standard .h264, while the audio was Dolby Digital (DTS). I didn’t want to have to re-encode the video (and loose additional quality) during the conversion to .mp4, so I threw out some common tools like Handbrake, in order to focus on tools that offered video pass through. One option is to use Quicktime 7 Pro to pass-through the video to a .mov file (which the Xbox should play). The audio track, however, becomes a problem, because you can’t passthrough DTS audio to a .mp4 file or .mov file (you must re-encode as AAC, and loose the Dolby). This also doesn’t solve problem two (the size issue). For more on using Quicktime 7 Pro for this task, & streaming via the excellent Connect 360 tool (which I didn’t want to do), check out this tutorial.

So, I think I found a better tool, which happily solves both of the above two problems – MKVTool (unfortunately, not free). The first thing I did with MKVTool was split the original Matroska file into 5 smaller Matroska files. Then, I converted each one individually over to .mp4, using “pass-through” for video and AAC for audio. Note that selecting passthrough for audio results in a completely dropped audio track, as the .mp4 container can’t take DTS audio. I also tried creating a .h264/DTS AVI file, which MKVTool warned probably wouldn’t play, and it was right.

Success! Using MKVTool, I was able to split and pass-through my .mkv movie over to the .mp4 container, and successfully play it off a flash drive on my Xbox 360. The only downside is loosing the Dolby surround sound during the conversion to AAC, but the resulting audio still sounds good to my ears. I’ll keep looking for better/free tools, and a way to keep the DTS audio so if you know of any, feel free to leave a comment!

MC Siegler over at TechCrunch recently wrote a sharp rebuke of AT&T for it’s network problems and handling of the iPhone. It’s good reading, and I have to commend him on his well deserved public condemnation of AT&T. Others, including ComputerWorld, have also covered the problems. Now it’s my turn. As you can read in depth about the problems in that blog post, I’ll only highlight some here:

• Visual Voicemail has been down for some for weeks, causing missed voicemail and no comment at all from AT&T
• AT&T’s online iPhone activation fails (2 years in a row) on iPhone 3Gs launch weekend, causing Apple to give free iTunes gift cards to rectify the unhappy sentiment
• iPhone OS 3.0 launches in US without support for MMS and tethering (2 of it’s big features) because AT&T can’t get its act together. Weeks later, these two features still are not available, and there’s no ETA.
• iPhone 3Gs users everywhere [else] enjoy faster 3G access due to built in support for 7.2Mbps 3G – except in the US, because it’s not supported by AT&T network (and won’t be until well into 2010 or 2011).
• AT&T ends iPhone pre-paid option, screwing both US customers and foreigners traveling within the US, who want local access, and are used to purchasing local pre-paid SIM cards wherever they go. The US is really the only country that doesn’t offer or makes it extremely difficult to do this. Read more here.
• AT&T’s network coverage sucks, and frequently goes down completely, leaving iPhone users unable to connect. For example, during the SxSW music festival in Austin, the network just crashes. People can’t get signals in major cities, and I, as an example, get cut off conversations with many times more static and dead spots than I used to a few years back with T-Mobile.  Why can other country’s mobile carriers have working networks in large cities, with just as many users, and without any of these problems, and AT&T can’t is beyond me. The blame has to be with AT&T.

All of these problems are truly reprehensible, and the blame lies entirely with AT&T. It also reflects poorly not just on AT&T, but also Apple due it’s exclusive arrangement. Unfortunately, it seems AT&t is just another example of an arrogant company that truly doesn’t care anymore! It makes no apologies for it’s failures, and makes no promises for fixes. AT&T should be doing everything possible to fix these problems in it’s effort to court Apple, and its not! This is just further proof that Apple should not renew its exclusivity contract with AT&T, or any other carrier.

However, I believe AT&T’s network and iPhone problems are just one piece of a much larger problem: the US mobile industry itself. Specifically, the fact that CDMA is used by half of the carriers, which decreases competition, and lousy foresight and steering by the FCC. Granted, AT&T is solely responsible for it’s own failures, but the fact that there is no competition (to force fixes & upgrades) is systemic in the US system (and furthered, of course, by AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity).

First, let’s examine the problem with CDMA. The US & South Korea are essentially the only countries using CDMA-based mobile networks. Every other country solely utilises GSM networks. GSM allows for cross-compatibility, global roaming, and increased competition at the network/service level. Thus, as CDMA carriers, Verizon & Sprint aren’t truly viable as competition to AT&T and T-Mobile. Then, there are the problems of varying GSM network bands in the US, which are often different from those used in rest of the world. T-Mobile’s 3G network band is all by itself – it’s the only network in the entire world on its band, making it entirely incompatible with AT&T and all other GSM networks, and like with CDMA, requires phone manufactures to create phones with specific support for T-Mobile USA (which is too small to matter to most manufactures to justify such a cost). This problem can be blamed squarely at the FCC, along with not mandating GSM and standardized network bands from the beginning. Then, there are anti-competitive business practices, like mandated phone exclusivity, long-term service contracts (even when a phone isn’t subsidized), and locked phones in general. All of these issues need to be corrected before the US mobile market is competitive and provides consumer choice.

In a globalized world, we can’t afford to be looking so internally, thinking that having an iPhone on Verizon would solve all of our problems. Likewise, we can’t look at the domestic-only compatibility of CDMA and not conclude it isn’t a huge liability. The GSM world standard exists for a reason, and it’s past time for the US to fully adopt it. People are too mobile, and phones manufacturers are too global-focused not to. For example, unlocked CDMA phones aren’t available; you can’t just switch out a card to change providers (in fact, you can’t change CDMA providers at all); and CDMA phone models are extremely limited (mostly to South Korean manufacturers), because a phone maker would have to build a phone specifically for the US market and a specific carrier. Indeed, Apple would have to build a version of the iPhone specifically for the US market and Verizon, which cant be used globally and can’t be used on any other network besides Verizon. This just isn’t practical! The only other GSM carrier, T-Mobile, isn’t really much competition because it’s 3G network sucks and isn’t even compatible with the 3G bands supported by the iPhone and 99% of other phones (leaving you with 2G only). However, Apple should end the AT&T exclusivity and allow T-Mobile to sell the iPhone, and leave it up to consumers which carrier to choose.

Surely, this lack of global compatibility is the largest overall problem with the iPhone in the US market. Just for comparison sake, consider Australia: There are four national GSM carriers, each carrying the iPhone unlocked (!), leaving consumers free to shop around for the best network and service prices. This kind of competition is what the US needs, and will only happen when the carriers all utilise the same network technology for cross-compatibility!

I, for one, refuse to even consider Verizon (even if it does have the “best” network) because I don’t want a phone locked to a legacy, isolated technology (CDMA), that won’t operate on any other network, or even globally. Besides, I want phone model choice and new technologies, and that only comes with GSM because it’s just not available with CDMA. Luckily, Verizon appears to understand, and is planning on migrating its network to GSM LTE 4G in the next couple of years (although I’m unsure what band). Unfortunately, that doesn’t help American iPhone owners now or next year. Until then, all we can do is light a fire under AT&T and hope they get there act together!

• Slight CPU bump (from 2.4ghz to 2.56ghz)
• FireWire 800
• SecureDigital card slot
• Upgraded, non-removable battery
• Upgraded display (higher color gamut)
• Standard 4GB Ram (now supports up to 8 GB from 4GB)
• “Pro” name designation
• 64-bit Bootcamp driver support
• Removal of digital audio input
• Cheaper price ($100 less)

That’s it! The rest of the system remains the same as the previous-gen MacBook – same GPU, same chassis, same display resolution, same multi-touch trackpad, same weight and dimensions, but at about $100 less than the previous-gen. At first I was a little upset, but then I came to the following realizations. Sure, I would love a FireWire port and built-in SD card reader on my MacBook, but I would only use the Firewire port with my old digital video cam (which I haven’t used recently – I actually only used FW on my PowerBook for Target Disk Mode). I can always use an external USB card reader for reading my SD cards, and my dSLR uses CompactFlash anyway. The small CPU bump isn’t going to make much of a difference, and while I guess it would be nice for my MacBook to say “Pro” on it, the name really makes no difference. That leaves the upgraded display and battery as the “upgrades” I would benefit most from, especially the display (a better display is always nice, although I should note that its the same resolution as the previous MacBook display, which I haven’t noticed any problems with. It also would be a moot point if you use an external monitor).

The new MacBook Pro comes standard with 4GB of memory, which I already have in my MacBook, but it now supports up to 8 GB (I don’t think I’d ever install more than 4GB, but its nice to have the capability. As there are no chipset changes, the previous-gen MacBooks also could support up to 8GB, but must be artificially capped via firmware. Apple could fix this via an upgrade, but I doubt they will.) Along with the “Pro” designation comes 64-bit Bootcamp drivers from Apple, allowing you to run a 64-bit version of Windows (which is required to take advantage of more than 2GB of RAM). This is one feature I would definitely take advantage of, and one feature my current MacBook is actually already capable of. That’s right, any Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook is capable of 64-bit, but Apple has purposely blocked their non-Pro computers from installing the Drivers. Hopefully, Apple will rectify this crazy software-only feature distinction with Snow Leopard, since 64-bit is useful to all users (although again, I’m not holding my breath).

As far as the battery, the new battery features new technology that supposedly allows it to last doubly long before beginning to degrade (from 500 charges to 1000 charges) and get more life out of each charge. Gizmodo has done some preliminary testing, and the difference appears to be about 40 extra minutes (see diagram below, and read the review over at Gizmodo), which is pretty significant! However, there is a downside! The new battery is non-removable by the user, and must be replaced by Apple, where it will cost $175 for replacement rather than $120. Likewise, the longer life claim has yet to be proved in general use.

So, all-in-all, the upgrade is a great one for those needing to upgrade. I really have to applaud Apple for creating a really great computer! But at the end of the day, I’ve concluded that not having the latest and greatest “MacBook Pro” isn’t really that big of a deal. Sure, the new model has some great features, but my last-gen MacBook performs just as well in almost all areas (with the exception of the CPU, display, and battery), and so far, I can say I don’t have any complaints!

Diagrams from Gizmodo.

So, without further ado, let me present my iPhone 2009 and OS 3.0 wishlist iPhone 2010 and OS 3.x/4.0 Wishlist (Note: My absolute, must-have features are in red and I will continue to update this post as new feature requests come to mind, and features get added to the iPhone):

iPhone Hardware:

• Faster processor and more internal RAM – Feature included in iPhone 3GS!
• Front facing camera (for video chat)
• OLED display
• Lacks chrome bezel; slimmer (like iPod Touch)
• Higher resolution rear camera (with video functionality) - Feature included in iPhone 3GS!
• 720p HD Video – iPhone 3Gs hardware is capable of this, just needs a software update!
• FM radio
• Wireless iTunes syncing (w/o MobileMe) and charging
• Louder speakerphone – unknown whether included in iPhone 3GS?

iPhone OS 3.0:

• Application multitasking w/ Exposé app. switching (true multitasking, not just push notifications)
• Smart Notifications: No more obtrusive pop-ups! Use smooth slide-up notifications that appear on bottom of screen like Palm WebOS. Notifications for Mail, SMS, iChat, Calendar, iPod, etc. Developer API. iPod music control via slide-up notification bar as well.
• Voice Calling/Control - feature included in iPhone 3GS!
• Easier way to turn on/off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, & Airplane mode (perhaps through menu bar dropdown menu toggles); usable from any app
• Mail: IMAP-Idle for Push Gmail; multiple Exchange accounts; unified inbox (for multiple accounts); ability to select a different “from” address for sent mail; custom SMTP servers; attachments (multiple photos & documents)
• iChat: Multi-service IM; video and audio chat; background support
• Search: Searches Mail message contents; Internet searches (Google, Twitter, etc.); Developer plug-ins for installed apps
• iPod: Create & Edit Playlists on iPhone; Easier update to all “subscribed” podcasts (w/o having to open iTunes app); Internet Radio
• Calendar: To-Do lists w/ desktop sync; Built-in Google Calendar sync; Ability for apps to read/write cal data (ex. Movie app scheduling a show time in calendar)
• Safari: Flash support; increased browser cache (to speed up reloads when re-launching app); additional search providers
• Springboard: Increase installed app limit; folders; improved icon organization (perhaps through iTunes); custom wallpaper
• Maps: GPS supported turn-by-turn directions (through 3rd-party apps like TomTom); social friend-finding
• Document Editing/viewer (with local storage & Office file support)
• Camera/Pictures: Improved autofocus; digital zoom; video recording; Tagging/Rating; uploading to Flickr, Picasa, Facebook, YouTube, etc.; Better way to manage Camera Roll photos on device (multiple delete at once, folders)
• Social/Web 2.0 Integration: Built-in support for Web 2.0 services like Google address book/calendar, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr throughout the OS; allowing internet searches; automatic push synchronization of address book/calendar; status updates; picture posting, seeing friends in map via GPS, etc. (like Palm WebOS’s Synergy feature, but better!)
• Spell checker with linked dictionary/thesaurus app (like OS X has, useable in any app.)
• Combine iTunes & Apps store app into one “iTunes app” for all purchases
• Built-in RSS app. with full Google Reader integration/sync.
• Notes syncing – included in OS 3.0!
• Copy/Paste – included in OS 3.0!
• Voice Notes – included in OS 3.0! (as a separate app, not integrated into Notes)
• Internet Tethering - supported in OS 3.0, but not by AT&T (and probably too expensive when finally supported “later”)!
• More gestures to do neat things and make use of the iPhone’s multi-touch