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Time Canada Shows New iMac
Kira-Baka writes "Okay, Time Canada screwed up big time. They have pictures of the new iMac which will be released tomorrow during the Mac World Expo keynote on their front page. it is likely that they will be getting a letter soon so though..." I'll be posting a full report on the keynote and other MacWorld goodness tomorrow as it happens. Time Canada seems a bit slow, but in short, think little pod of iMac with superdrive and flat panel screen. Update: 01/07 13:22 GMT by T : Several readers have pointed out that the story can (for now) still be found mirrored here, though it's been pulled from the Time site.
The Time Canada article also spills the beans about iPhoto - long-rumored "digital photo management" software for the Mac.
The "big feature" (besides easy management/sorting/viewing of digital photos): you can arrange your own photo album, doctor it up nice & pretty like, and with a click of a button, a $30 charge on your credit card, and a week or so for the mail, you'll get a hard-covered book of the selfsame album.
Neat.
Interesting to note that the concept sketch took only a day, but to squeeze the hardware into the small untit took almost two years. "He had a good working sketch of the new design within a day. But engineering the machine-squeezing all the gear into the little box that Jobs wanted-took nearly two years." But, it costs a LOT...even with a gee-whiz flat-screen. "You can buy a PC with a flat-panel display and a built-in DVD burner for around $1,800, the same as the equivalent iMac." also... " Still, at $1,299 for the entry-level iMac, the product could be priced too dearly to attract many converts from the PC world." So...$1200 - $1800 for an iMac? Don't get me wrong, I'm a PC user, but I do like Apple's hardware, and Mac OS X is OK, but $400 for an iPod, $1,800 for an iMac? Apple prices its products to high to make a convert out of me. Plus, it looks like a lamp. It lacks the OOH AAH factor that the original IMac had at launch.
Imac image mirror
Come on, it's not bad for Apple that people see this a few hours earlier than they would. ... bumbersome floating panel ... etc.) this is my current Conspiracy Theory (tm):
/. and/or other news sites will pick up the "blunder" ;).
/real/ new machine, far more slick and appealing than the old machine or the clay-blob-stick-panel (Apple has a good sense of aesthetics, why would they make something look silly?)
But, judging from all the flame the design is getting (clay blob
1) Apple give Time Canada info about their new Mac in advance, but mock up the clay-blob-stick-panel design.
2) Let Time Canada release this early. Naturally
3) Reveal the
4) News sites will catch the discrepancy. People like the real one. People will talk!
As they say, there's no such thing as bad publicity. But I'm just a conspiracy theorist.
-Leo
news sources used to try to "get the scoop" instead of "sell the product", so in a twisted, antiquated way, TimeCanada.com did *good*.
The iMac only Jobs could love.
Seriously.
This is not a computer for geeks. It's certainly not the computer for schools. And I can't imagine most households wanting something like this when room is plentiful and 18" LCDs (or 21" CRTs) are cheaper than ever. Even die-hard Mac fans are unimpressed.
So, who is Apple targeting? I feel this may set them back *much* further than the Cube.
I wish Apple good luck, they need it.
just some neat pictures i found on the web.
i wonder what they are?
i know nothing about them, just thought they looked cool, so i copied 'em to my hard drive.
http://129.21.139.1/imac.jpg
http://129.21.139.1/imac2.jpg
The masses are the crack whores of religion.
On the contrary - when Chris posted the story he said, "Time Canada seems a bit slow", but when I went there, it seemed just fine. That can only mean that this Webmaster not only survived a /.ing, but improved performance of their system in the process. Maybe some heads will roll, but they'd be idiots to fire whoever's running that shop.
-"Zow"
Won't happen.
First, it would mean ostracising all those old-school, "megahertz means nothing" PowerPC addicts with MacClassics hot-rodded to run OSX. It would really be a bad scene, as well, having to maintain 2 versions of their code. Yes, Darwin is portable to i386, but big deal; NT4 was portable to PowerPC too. Didn't see many Blue-And-White's running NT4. (look on your NT4 disks to see the MIPS, PPC, etc. directories!)
Second, one of the nice things about the Mac platform is the integration between hardware and software. Software can control the bootloader and nvram dynamically. I have not seen anything on x86 that lets you, for example, change the boot device. This may seem like a trivial example, but it means a lot when dealing with hardware, drivers, etc.
I had the notion that, perhaps, there is nothing unique about x86. It's a processor. Perhaps Apple has contracted with someone to build an x86-based mobo, that uses OpenFirmware? In other words, bring all the coolness of the Mac hardware to the PC world. The problem is, of course, its not a PC anymore, except that you will be able to swap cards between machines without flashing the BIOS of the card. It's possible, but I would think someone would have mentioned it.
Although clever wording "it's not a PC" could really be useful here. It's an Intel based machine, with more-or-less commodity hardware, that's not a PC. Might be interesting, but I doubt it'll happen.
ZOMG I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS ON MACINTOSH VERSUS WINDOWS, VI VERSUS EMACS, AND HOW YOU'RE NOT A DORK
http://www.timecanada.com now redirects to http://www.time.com/time. I guess it was a goof and not a stunt. And I guess the doofus at timecanada just got his pink slip.
There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself
-Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye
Thats why real canadians dont by time "canada", they read there own news magazine: Maclean's Magazine
If your not a Canadian youve probably never heard of it - almost every Canadian does.
Besides, as a post states below, saying Time-Canada is really a cop out for reselling commercial propaganda.