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Apple Cube Confirmed
Ok, we mentioned this in the story below but apparently thats not loud enough considering this is being submitted about every 30 seconds *grin*. yes, the Apple Cube is real. There
is more information about it on every mac site on the planet, including Apple's site. It looks nifty.
This article says: The Power Mac G4 Cube doesn't have a single analog circuit in it, except for the power supply. Instead, it relies on USB, FireWire and the breakthough Apple Display Connector to connect with a host of peripherals
Ah, another new display connector from Apple! I remember the ill-fated VideoVision connector from the PowerMac 61xx series and I'm sure people who are buying used Macs at swap meets love it when they find out they can't hook it up to any monitor known to man except the VideoVision monitor, unless they either have the special nuclear-powered cable, or add a video board (either the HPV or AV board).
I do have one concern about this new video connector. Knowing how touchy the MPAA etc. are about digital outputs from DVD, what kind of "copy protection" provisions are built into this new connector?
I'm not sure how they can say it contains "no analog circuitry", because the article mentions it has a VGA port on back, and the new video connector also contains analog signals. VGA is definitely analog. I guess they mean "no analog circuitry except VGA."
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
My take on what seem like the most interesting things...
The Cube
It kicks ass in a Matrix-style way. It's just gorgeous, and is an engineering marvel as well. In case anyone missed it, the thing has no fan. As a result, it's incredibly quiet -- just ask anybody with a previous generation iMac (which was the first to go fanless). This is possible because of the low power consumption/heat output of the PPC. And while this thing won't fit in a rack, it does allow one to create a space-efficient (and sightly) server farm.
MP G4s
Apple is today selling dual G4s for the same price it sold single processor machines for yesterday. This is impressive. Certain applications will take more advantage of the second processor than others -- Photoshop and Final Cut Pro should fly -- but this is a good move regardless. I would like to hear what Carmack has to say about this. In addition, the motherboards now have gigabit ethernet standard. And thanks to Darwin's SMP, Mac OS X should fly on this thing.
Mouse/keyboard
It took them a while, but Apple appears to have fixed the problems with both its mouse and keyboard. I'll have to reserve final judgement until I hold the thing, but the mouse seems good. What not everyone realizes is that the idea behind the hockey puck mouse was that it could easily fit in a child's hand. The idea with this new mouse is that smaller hands can rest their palm on the back, but not have trouble reach the mouse button in the front (since the whole thing is a button). We're back to a full-size keyboard too.
BTW: From what I understand, ALL new Apple desktop models come with the new mouse and keyboard. This includes the $799 iMac...
$799 iMac
Apple will start selling a $799 iMac in the new Indigo color in September. This machine does not have DVD or FireWire, but it's technologically superior to the $999 machine that Apple sells today. And even if you don't like Mac OS, this thing could make one bad-ass xterm machine. Not only is it cheap and has ethernet and a great sound system (how many $799 machines can claim that?), but it looks cool too. There are a bunch of other revisions to the iMac product line, including several new colors, but none significant as this.
iMovie 2
While this may not affect many slashdotters, it's worth noting that Apple has done an amazing job with iMovie. It's essentially at the forefront and defining this new desktop DV editing industry as it goes. Sony seems to be struggling to keep up. iMovie is the first piece of software to make DV editing so accesible. This is a brilliant move on Apple's part, because users will eventually graduate to Final Cut and a G4. I feel this is a strategy similar to how Microsoft leveraged FrontPage to breed ASP developers.
Apple is continually eliminating obstacles that stand between it and its critics. And while some poeple still feel that one company making both the OS and the hardware is bad, Apple has proved that it understands it customers and its market. It is also one of the only major computing companies companies to take previous proprietary software (Darwin, QuickTime Streaing, OpenPlay, NetSprocket) and move it to an open source license that is approved of by the OSI. And note that it can afford to do this because it derives most of its revenue from hardware.
The company is far from perfect, but substainial progress has been made in the last three years, and Apple deserves credit for that today. The industry would be much duller and stagnant without them.
- Scott
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Scott Stevenson
Scott Stevenson
Tree House Ideas
Did anyone notice that the Mac Junkie article does not exist anymore? He took it down sometime in the last few hours. What's even funnier is that the whole Mac Junkie site doesn't exist anymore. There is a default web hosting page up now and none of the previous pages exist!
I guess that's one way to avoid public humiliation... :)
- Pretty beige box on the Apple II which Jobs felt would sell more machines, in light of design concerns proposed by Wozniak (too much internal heat, wasted internal space, etc.)
- The flat, pizza-box shaped LCIII, which seemed like a great idea until heavier monitors came around and started crushing internal components
- More recently, on the iMac, the use of Powerbook CD-ROM components in the original design. Seemed like a great idea, until people realized how breakable they were when pushed down, especially by children.
- Handles on all iMacs. Great idea, until you realize due to all the CRT components the weight of the machines is 45+ lbs. Gives new meaning to the term "luggable".
- And don't even get me started on the single-button mouse. My mother uses a 2-button mouse just fine (with wheel) in Windows, and understands the right-button is for context-sensitive menus. I sometimes see her scratching for the right-mouse button when she uses the family iMac.
Food for thought.
Note to moderators: just because the guy has a few negative things to say about Apple, his username is "Fervent", and his mommy uses a Windows machine does not make him a Troll or Flamebait. People outside Slashdot don't all use Linux, FreeBSD or MacOS. Get over it.
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
This press release was written in a hurry. Read this part:
It's also the first computer to come standard with an optical mouse, for perfect precision on almost any surface. And it connects to your choice of Apple's flat-screen or CRT displays in equally stunning designs.
The G4 Cube is also the first computer to come standard with the Apple Pro Mouse, for perfect precision on almost any surface
This is completely undedited by me, as posted on their page. They repeat themselves. I hereby moderate this press release to (-1 Redundant).
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What happens when you outlaw guns
First of all, good thing the logic board is on the sides of the cube, not the bottom. Spill away (at your own risk, of course).
Second, the thing is air cooled, not fan cooled. Heat rises. You figure it out.
Third, either you're going to put it under the desk, in which case the top is covered by the desk, or on top of the desk, in which case you're not going to want to cover it up or put things on top of it because it looks cool and because you want to access the DVD.
Finally, you could make a converse argument for current tower cases. Wow, stupid place for a CD-Rom drive and power button, right in the front where I always kick the damn thing!
just my blog and pix
Did anyone read the article at Mac Junkie? The author said he would eat his hockey puck mouse if the cube was real... Let's hold him to it....
Look at the photos on the displays page. Towards the bottom there are some smallish setup photos of the 15" LCD. Looks as though it comes with a small USB hub, likely meaning you run a USB cable to the monitor and then break out from there. Nice.
;-)
As for ethernet---hah! Troglodyte---don'cha know you're supposed to buy an AirPort base station and just connect wirelessly?
(And sweet--the cube is only 14 pounds? Nice. With a 15" LCD and a nice secure carrying case, one would have a very chic luggable.)
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Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is a misnomer? Perhaps Macrosoft would be a better fit?
A mirror of the Apple G4 cube's QTVR movies can be found here. You can rotate and poke around the cube and the pro mouse. Darn server being hammered to heck...
-- BlueCalx | http://nickd.org/
When is the last time that litigious Apple borrowed another company's intellectual property (well...besides Xerox's)?
My other thought:
- 1989 -- NeXT cube
- 2000 -- Mac cube
More similarities than the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations... What's next, Businessland to re-ermge and have an exclusive contract? Ross Perot to invest heavily in Apple? The King of Spain to buy a room full of these puppies?-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
1. Absolutely every last person who has seen any NeXT product ever. /. who has read an Apple-related story in the past year.
2. Absolutely everybody who has read even one column describing MacOS X and the history of its development.
3. Pretty much everybody on
Other than that, you are the only one to make the connection. Nice work. :)
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
I've been reading MOSR almost daily since before they had a domin name. Yes, take everything with a grain of salt - but then, they tell you that it's a rumor site and the stuff they cover isn't reliable. Sure, they've been wrong before. Everyone knows that. Even when they get the right idea, they're often wrong on some of the details. That doesn't mean they're never right about anything! Lighten up.
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$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
When I went to www.apple.com, I got
Forbidden
Your client is not allowed to access the requested object.
Sounds like Apple got a cease-and-desist from their own lawyers...
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Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
"The similarities to the Borg Cube are not just superficial", Apple President Steve Jobs was quoted as saying. "The technology we used was very highly influenced by the popular Star Trek TV series."
According to the agreement, Paramount Studios will be providing QuickTime clips of special shows featuring the Borg fighting the evil 8472 with the help of the PowerMac G4 Cube. Executives declined to comment on whether or not the 8472 would be featuring Microsoft, Inc.'s rival Windows operating systems.
Apple product designers could not be reached for comment on the rumours of a G3 Sphere.
Interesting that Apple would use legal action threats to have the rumors removed a month before the product appears on the web site. It pretty much confirms the rumors. Of course, there was speculation that MOSR fabricated the Apple request to get more attention, and may still have, but things begin to look alot less dishonest when the cube is sitting on the website now.
It would look pretty cool sitting on my desk. ;>
wish
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What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
2000 Apple announces Apple Cube
2001 Apple announces Apple Slab - fondly known as the 'G6 pizza box'
2003 Apple ceases hardware production - 'Hardware is a commodity' says Jobs.
'Software is the key differentiator'
2005 Apple acquired by HP - Jobs to become chair of 'new, revitalized' company.
And so on, and so on.....
Last, some speculation: Steve's revised product matrix (including Cube) was drawn with 6 squares. Apple's design group could have drawn it as a pentagon or some other shape with exactly 5 parts, but they chose a 6 part rectangle, with a blank space in between iBook and PowerBook.
Apple designers may be evil sometimes (e.g. QT Player 4, hall of shame) but they don't do accidents. There's only one product that would make sense in that gap -- SUBNOTEBOOK! 4 pounds or less, a competitor for the Sony Vaio 505 SuperSlim. I'm gonna keep on wishing til it comes true...
There are plenty of good, solid reasons why the tops of most computers are very featureless.
First, because folks like to put stuff on top of them. the big vent in the middle of the top of this thing will probably prevent people from resting their coffee mug on it, but I'm sure they'll have overheating problems from folks putting papers on top of it.
Second, the Crud Factor. That big pretty vent probably makes nice pretty ringing noises when you push coins through it. Hopefully they've thought to put some mesh behind it. I grew up in a big family and have many nieces and nephews, don't think your kids won't try this, I've seen coins (and worse, like green jello) done to this sort of box in the past.
And that CD-ROM drive. Eesh. It even *LOOKS* like it's designed to store paperclips. I don't even want to think about that.
And, finally, is it just me or does the whole affair look like a 1950's impression of a futuristic deep fat fryer? All we need is a wire handle attached to those two bolts on the top so that we can pull the basket out to drain . . .
This is just like television, only you can see much further.
Why is it that only Apple gets to put out cool stuff to the world? I always hear how Apple only focuses on the cosmetics, which is arguably true, but if it captivates people's attentions so much, why don't other computer makers even try?
I mean, everyone here is going goo goo ga ga over a fucking box! I am too - I admit. The cube is really cool looking. BUT IT'S A BOX! Why isn't Compaq or Dell or Sony (most of all Sony) putting out anything half as cool?
More power to Apple if they pull off yet another packaging revolution (the first being the iMac). Looks like everyone else lacks the balls to try something different.
just my blog and pix