Slashdot Mirror
Apple Reveals Mac OS X 10.2, 17" iMac, Windows iPod
The Address Book is now system-wide, accessible from many applications, and even has Bluetooth integration. Jobs dialed his cell phone via Address Book, and then when someone called him back on that phone, the computer popped up with the caller's name in Address Book. He had the option to pick up the phone or reply with a short text message.
iSync is a new system for synching your contacts and calendars with GPRS cell phones, Palms, and iPods; so Palms and cell phones are now a part of the digital hub. The iSync program shows you connected devices, and allows configuration of what to sync, and when. The demo showed a complete sync of an address book on the computer to the cell phone, again over Bluetooth. iSync will also allow integration with .mac to update your contacts and calendars between multiple computers, and will be available as a free download in September.
The Mail app now has much better searching and spam filtering, and inline QuickTime (no, that won't be abused ...).
Rendezvous will allow such things as automatic accessing of other's playlists in iTunes, accessing USB printers on the network, and more, with "zero configuration" (I hope there is some configuration, so I can opt in or out of such things). Epson, HP, and Lexmark will have Rendezvous-compatible printers. Jobs didn't mention any way to share USB printers between Mac OS and Mac OS X.
iChat, the new instant messaging program, and iCal, the new shared calendar program, can work with the $100-per-year .mac subscription, or with the free AOL IM account and any web server. iChat will use Rendezvous for finding local users, and shared calendars can be sent via iChat or mail. iCal will ship in September, as a free download.
Sherlock 3 has been completely rewritten, using Internet services (SOAP? XML-RPC?) instead of trying to parse HTML. The demo showed movie listings with embedded trailers, eBay searches with intelligently organized information and pictures, Google image searching, and a Yellow Pages search that knows your ZIP code and sorts by distance, and shows directions and maps.
iTunes 3 is out today, with new features such as rating songs, keeping track of how often songs are played, playing back all songs at the same volume, integration with audible.com, and "Smart Playlists" with rulesets so they are automatically populated (e.g., "25 most played songs", or "500 MB of songs where playcount is 0", to play songs you've never listened to). It is only available for Mac OS X, and requires registration with an email address.
For the iPod, Apple lowered prices on the 5GB and 10GB models ($299, $399), and introduced a 20GB model ($499). The 10GB and 20GB have a solid state scroll wheel, a door to protect the FireWire port, a remote control, and a case. The playlist counts, Smart Playlists, and audible.com integration sync between the iPod and iTunes. Sound volume check has also been added to the iPod. The new 10GB model is 7.692 percent thinner than the previous version.
Also added to the iPod, in addition to the contacts, is calendars, synched with iCal, so it can really act as a PDA for most people. Jobs also announced Windows versions of iPod, synching with musicmatch and including a FireWire 6-to-4 pin cable.
The new iMac has a 17" widescreen display at 1440x900, with an NVIDIA GeForce4 MX, G4/800, and 80GB hard drive.
Jobs also noted that there are 2.5 million Mac OS X users, that 77 percent of owners of new Macs keep Mac OS X as the primary OS, and that they estimate there will be 5 million Mac OS X users by the end of the year, representing 20% of all Mac users using the new OS in the first 24 months.
Apple showed some new ads in the "Switch" campaign, including a student who lost her paper on Windows, a student whose CDs get messed up in his bag (although they didn't point out that he can use iPod under Windows now), and a comedian who ended his commercial with, "My name is Will Ferrell ... and I'm a porn actor."
This is not bug fixes.
This is an update.
You did READ what was posted is going to be in 10.2, didn't you?
If you had watched the keynote like I did (via quicktime), you'd know this is FAR more than a bug fix.
.
The wide-screen iMac specs page gives the native
resolution of the 17" iMac as 1440x900. This is a 16:10 display ratio, which is about as
close as any monitor I know of gets to the
Golden Ratio, (1 + sqrt(5)/2), or approximately 1.618.
Clearly Apple is trying to channel Pyramid Power
to sell more computers.
GollyGee Blocks -- 3D creativity software for kids.
Good:
.Mac - nice new features
.Mac pricing. There should be a scaled-back free edition, like the other services providers offer. I expounded on this in a comment on the initial .Mac thread earlier today.
- iPod upgrades and price cuts.
- iPod for Windows
- Jaguar before Labor Day
- All the new software tools
- Wide-screen iMac!
- Price cut on the old Superdrive iMac (though that's the original price pre-hike)
- iSync - way cool
-
Bad:
- The new iMac is still PC100/800 MHz
- No "upgrade edition" of Jaguar. A $49 or around that version of Jaguar that would only install over an existing MacOS X install would be good. I should get some bonus for being an early user.
-
- No support for either USB 2.0 or Firewire 2 yet. Introducing the new iMac with that would have been nice.
Indifferent:
- The iPod accessory kits (pretty much all available in the 3rd party market already)
- The pricing of the new iMac
- The lack of changes to the other price points (I was expecting across-the-board iMac price cuts, but no biggie)
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
Some firewire interfaces, notably Sony's iLink and most laptops, don't provide power to the ports. These normally take a four-pin cable rather than a six-pin cable. Six-pins carry the full power.
Basically, he's saying that it's easier to plug in your Sony DV gear now.
Cheers,
Ian
Just one little interesting tidbit i noticed that is getting kind of lost in the noise: Did anyone else notice the little note on the Jaguar page? Apparently the 10.2 developer tools use GCC 3.1!
:)
I found this interesting, as i had heard that the bulk of the linux distributions had not yet managed to migrate to GCC 3. Neat to see Apple is staying on top of this whole UNIX-technology thing
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
As a Mac user for nearly 18 years, I'm quite happy that Apple is now charging some modest fees for their value-added services.
.mac, they've got to fight similar interests at Microsoft.
This is something that Microsoft's hedgemony WON'T let other PC manufacturers do - at least not to the extent that Apple has shown here. If Gateway (Dell, whoever) wants to create a value-added portal like
Apple has no such conflict - they own the whole ball of wax, so the hardware and OS sides of the company can work together to produce a best-in-class (and don't pretend they aren't class-leading or at least very innovative and polished) set of services for Mac users - for free in many cases (iTunes, iPhoto) and for a modest yearly charge in other cases.
My ISP charges $20.00 a month for a 5MB mailox and 50MB of FTP space. Apple is providing more than that for $100.00 a year. That's half off for me - for more space.
Owning a mac has never looked better. Apple is again taking positive steps to increase revenue growth and reduce it's dependence on volatile hardware sales. Reasonable prices for services that generate recurring revenue...new product refreshes on a regular basis to win the fence sitters and an advertising program that _is_ winning over some converts (right here in my office) - rather unfunny Penny Arcade cartoons notwithstanding.
Good job, Apple.
Um. I have a 3-year-old iMac at home. It's got 256 MB of RAM in it, and it runs OS X 10.1.5. I use it for surfing and email, of course, using OmniWeb and Mail.app, but I also run iTunes and iPhoto almost every day. I wouldn't want to edit movies on it, of course, but for everything else I want, it works very well. I'm looking forward to iChat, iSync, and (especially) iCal in the next few months, 'cause I'm sure those will all run perfectly well, too.
So I really don't know what the hell you think you're talking about.
If you dont like the .mac fees, let apple know here This is a general discussion forum for the new .mac service.
If you don't want the new features, don't buy them. Stay with MacOS X 10.1.5 ...
The "paying for features I don't want" excuse is getting old. If what you have is working well for you, then you have no need to upgrade. I for one still have several Red Hat 6.2 boxes running here because Red Hat 7.2 has features I don't need. It's a free upgrade if I want it, but I don't.
Mac OS X is a great OS. Apple put a lot into those new features you don't want. $129 isn't bad for what you're getting. Hell, look at Windows. It doesn't include half the functionalty and it costs $200-$300 depending on your persuasion (Home/Pro).
OS 10.1.5
PowerBook G4
Everything Configured correctly.
Still have the beachball.
Quietly, I weep.
I think I see a trend forming here. The 16:10 "Golden Ratio" iMac screen and the $100 per year "Golden Shower" .Mac services.
Check out their homepage. The slightly effete but expressive classic Apple Garamond font has been replaced by a plain, rather ugly version of Adobe Myriad Roman. Say it ain't so! But it is.
They started it with the eMac, but I assumed it was some education-only market differentiator. Apparently not. There's a little more at Mired.
Personally, I think it's a terrible change. And a stupid one. They'd built a huge amount of brand identity with Apple Garamond, to the point where anything written in it reminded you of Apple. The new font has no personality at all. Is that what they were going for?
P.S. The Myriad Roman link is a Google cache of a page that 404's now.
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
Unix from AT&T had a similar problem. they kept calling it "System N" and incrementing N. when they hit "System V" (the first to use a roman numeral, i think), they started pushing the tagline "consider it standard" to combat the fears of people noting that there was no official standard for Unix, unlike pretty much everything else the Bell System did. and, lo and behold, people sorta took AT&T's word for it!
the problem was, it worked so well they couldn't increment N any more, because "System V" was the standard (and thus whatever came next wouldn't be).
so the went to "System V Release 2" and got through about SVR4 before that got "stuck" as a "standard" with the various splits and unification efforts in the unix community. so they did "SVR4.1" and so on. then they started adding letters when that got stuck.
many commercial unixes will still tell you they run a "SVR4.3x" (i think) kernel. it wasn't until SCO (the then-owners of the original Unix strain) did UnixWare 7 (i think) that they incremented to SVR5.
just a bit of Unix history.
i speak for myself and those who like what i say.
you make some very good points.
-braxton
Gives them 90 pixels for a title bar, without it interfering with the display area of the HDTV image.
Doesn't a demonstration of such kickass tech (especially the Bluetooth stuff) realised today for the consumer show just how many streets ahead Apple are?
What the hell are you talking about? My PC is quite happy to talk to my IPaq over Bluetooth today.
This is all stuff that should exist under Windows, but doesn't. Apple has, after so many years, arrived at the point of equality (and now usurption) to everything else in the market - they can only produce better and better products.
Yeah, but if any of this stuff was built into Windows wouldn't the same people on this thread be whining about how Microsoft is abusing its monopoly power to shove software no one wants down peoples throats and to drive competitors out of business ? Need I remind you that Microsoft is currently being sued for including a web browser and media player in the OS - nevermind any of the more advanced features.
Mmmm.. Donuts
The people that have already bought and paid for OS X are Apple's staunchest supporters. If anyone deserves to finally have a fast OS, it's them. Yet they are being asked to pay full tilt ($129) for the speed that should have been there in the very first release.
OS X as it currently sits can be slow even on fast Mac hardware, and annoyingly laggy on slower Macs. This is simply not acceptable. Mac OS X users deserve these fixes for free, and I suspect that most people will take them without paying if they have the opportunity.
...much as i wish it were. There was no mention at all of discounts for those of us with software coupons. It's full price for everyone except those who bought the computers today or later, presumably to stop people holding off on buying new hardware.
No! No damn it no! I'm trying to think of the best way to formulate this response, but I can't so I'll just have to stick with this cheesy opening. Companies have been showing off useless junk like this since 1998. Why on god's earth would I want my computer to tell me whose calling me on my cell phone. I've got caller ID for that. But you say, "Sullust, that might not be usefull, but surely they can think of some really cool use for it." That's the problem though, they can't.
Bluetooth has been around for about 3 years now and nobody uses it. Why you may ask? Because it has no practical use. I recall a demo Bill Gates did many years ago just before Win2K was coming out where he selected a bunch of songs from Windows Media Player and it sent them to his car via 802.11 and then somebody got in the car, turned it on, and be damned if they weren't playing those songs. Wasn't that neat! Funny though, 2+ years latter and me using Windows XP, yet I still can't do that. Why? Because it's easier to just burn my mp3's onto a music cd, or (if i want lots of tunes) get a car mp3 player. You can buy these now, I know of no products that I can beam songs too and play (other than installing a PC in my car... no thanks).
Scott McNealy (or however you spell his name) from Sun does this kind of stuff all the time too, a mythical refrigerator with a computer in it and a barcode scanner (which I can't buy) will scan all the stuff in my fridge and put what I need on the shopping list of my Palm. WOW! That is so freakin' cool! But a year and a half later, I can do no such thing. Again, why? Because it's butt-loads cheaper and easier to... wait for it... open the damn door and look! How many bar code readers is it going to take to read ALL the UPC's in my fridge, or worse yet, am I going to have to point all the UPCs at one or five readers... thanks anyway, I'll just open the door.
The point of this now rantish response is to say that 0.1% of these gee whiz tech demos are going to turn into products. Just because Steve Jobs is on stage doesn't mean it isn't vapor ware. The point is to make you think "just how many streets ahead Apple are" and make you also think "This is all stuff that should exist under Windows, but doesn't." Guess what, it doesn't exist on a Mac either. Senior Jobs just got one of his engineers to make a BlueTooth cellphone that could talk with his address book thingy. I doubt Nokia is going to.
Until Jobs, Gates, or Nealy can get on stage and say "This is the Nokia 3425, Ford Tunester, and Kenmore Neat-n-Shit and you can go to the store and buy them right now." These demo's are just Marketing/PR to make all the geeks love them.
It works too...
I just called the Apple store at 1-800-my-apple, and the rep told me that the upgrade proof of purchase coupons you get when you buy a new machine will not apply to this upgrade, so it's $129 across the board, (unless you buy your machine starting today, and it doesn't already have Jaguar installed).
She told me Apple is taking comments from (potential) customers to gauge their reactions, and that it could possibly result in changes to the plan. (Remember that the upgrade isn't actually available until August 24...plenty of time for them to change the pricing policy).
In my case, I told them I was a "switcher" who has bought two new macs (an iMac and an iBook) in the last four months, and I was very unhappy that I'll need to pay $260 to upgrade them to 10.2. I suggested that they should at least honor the coupons and give a price break for them.
Call them and tell them what you think...maybe we can make a difference.
Hmm. It seems from your post that you might not know exactly what Bluetooth is. It's not about your computer showing you who's calling on your cell phone.
I have a Bluetooth cell phone. It's an Ericsson something-or-other; don't recall the specific model number. It has a phone book in it, like all cell phones. If I want to store a number in it, I have to key it in, and then key in the name, and then save it. Mildly annoying.
Instead of doing that, I just Bluetooth contacts from my PDA over to the phone. It's wireless, so there's nothing to carry around. And it works between the PDA (an iPaq) and the phone (an Ericsson) with no special setup or anything. If I have a contact in my PDA, I can put it in my cell phone in about three seconds.
But there's more. I also have a Bluetooth headset. It sits in my ear and I can talk on my cell phone, without dangly wires. It's a pain in the ass to get in your car while you're on a cell phone, because you have to thread the wired headset through the seat belt just right, or risk getting all tangled up. Me, I just carry my phone in my pocket, no muss, no fuss.
I also use Bluetooth to sync my PDA to my laptop. No more serial cables or cradles to mess with.
My friend has a Bluetooth inkjet printer for his PC. He lives in Sydney, so I don't know if that stuff is available here in the US or not. But I was there when I bought it. Pull it out of the box, plug it into the wall socket for power. About three clicks and the PC found it, and two clicks later he was printing. It was amazingly cool, and useful too!
As a short-range peripheral interconnect, Bluetooth has a lot going for it. Bluetooth support under Windows is great when it works, but it requires third-party software and isn't as transparent as it could be. I'm really looking forward to iSync, because it'll let me extend my little Bluetooth LAN to include my iBook (my laptop of choice; the ThinkPad belongs to my employer) and my iMac at home.
Don't poo-poo Bluetooth, or any other new technology, out of hand just because you don't know anybody personally who uses it. Just as you're saying that it isn't automatically cool, I'm saying that it isn't automatically useless, either.