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Apple To Introduce Video iPod?
xombo writes "iPoding and Mac Rumors as well as eWeek newsletter and Reuters seem to think that Apple will be introducing either a video-capable iPod -or- even better a Tablet Mac which may run into direct competition with Microsoft's similar product.
"The one thing you can say for sure is that they do have a lot of product out there right now and they're going to be hesitant to draw too much attention away from their existing products" by introducing new ones now, said Roger Kay, an analyst at market research firm International Data Corp.
Instead, Apple may unveil the long-anticipated video-enabled iPod, which will likely work initially only on Macintosh computers, Enderle said.
Apple's existing inkwell and Newton technologies seem to make them in the perfect position to take on Microsoft in what could be the biggest battle for the most worthless market sector (Tablet PCs), however as a Newton owner I think that the some-what-larger-than-Palm device size that the Newton line sported is much more user friendly and usable.
Read the Reuters article at reuters.." It'd be nice, but I'm skeptical on it actually being that.
Rumors suggest Apple may solve world hunger, send a manned mission to Mars by 2004, and release a machine which is fast enough to compete with PCs.
Thank you for playing.
(Gotta love Macworld Expo...)
Stéphane "Alias" Gallay
Now, where did I put this witty quote?..
It doesn't need to, as long as it can communicate with Linux, then we should be fine!
I try to consider Apple a friend, not a foe...
however as a Newton owner I think that the some-what-larger-than-Palm device size that the Newton line sported is much more user friendly and usable.
:-)
Cmon, Apple's due for a limited-edition device. "The 25th Anniversary Newton" has a nice ring to it, no?
May we never see th
I've got a standard Jukebox 20, and the wife has the FM radio version, both are really reliable little units and there's even open-source firmware available for it called Rockbox.
Well worth a look, and IMHO superior to the iPod - certainly the ones I've played with anyway.
Smegma.
The bottom line is that they are too expensive. Do not look for anyone except the rich kids in college to flaunt them. A great concept, converting your handwritten notes to say MS Word, but they are too expensive, except for the affluent. Hell..I still can't afford a laptop..
Solid!
Doesn't run on what? A cloud of vapor?
Imagine a beowulf*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*
I hate Grammar Nazi's
"...-or- even better a Tablet Mac which may run into direct competition with Microsoft's similar product..."
Why is Apple releasing a tablet so great if the idea of a tablet is so dull? Is this just MS bashing in disguise - "it is competing with Microsoft so it must be good". Constantly comparing yourself to the competition is a great way to give them credibility.
Read reviews of shopping cart software
Does anyone really need something like this? The iPod you can use in the car, while working out, or while sitting at your desk. Ripping or downloading songs is fast and the files are small. None of these things are true for an iVideoPod. The only place you could use such a thing would be on a bus or train or something, where most of the passengers tend to be older and poor (not exactly Apple's niche market, to put it nicely). If they want to continue to grab the rich college girl market, they'll need to come up with something more reasonable.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
This guy really knows what he is talking about.
When I charge it, it displays a nice little video of the battery charge going to low to high, and back again. If that's not high-quality video, then I don't know what is...
There is no sig, there is only Zuul.
Apple is about giving a good experience. Watching movies on an iPod is not really a good experience - massive storage requirements, pressure to have a large display on a small device, the need for battery life. Why make a video device that you can only watch one video on? I would rather them foray into consumer electronics, selling a Tivo-like device that if you subscribe to .mac you get the channel listings, or something like that. Not a video iPod....
"Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes."
-E. W. Dijkstra
1. Next year theyll add a voice recording function 2. Then wireless connections will be available 3. Same people will call this kind of gadget mobile phone Any questions?
FWIW, one of Sony's high-end camcorders had an ethernet plug, and an embedded webserver with applications for editing (like deleting scenes etc). I can't find it on the sony site, but they've got some new bluetooth cameras, too
The USB2 is as fast as firewire; and it works without drivers on XP - comes up just like another hard drive. The big problem with the multimedia one they put out, there is an extra adaptor you have to get to use firewire or usb2. That was a major error in my eyes, since usb2 was built into the previous versions. Also, despite the repeated lies by steve jobs whores, the sound is better on the archos and most versions will record other sources to mp3. Of course the best sound comes from the Nomads, but those things are fatter than cowboi kneel.
At least one of those two things--tablet or enhanced ipod/handheld--are what I think are most likely tomorrow as well. Apple has recently improved all their products--superdrive in the tibook, quartzextreme in the ibook (and man does that make a difference), powermacs up to 1.25 GHz, and the 17" imac. Speed-bumping the xserve would be nice but it's not a show-making announcement.
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(except that i probably misspelled it...)
The one thing you can say for sure is that they do have a lot of product out there right now and they're going to be hesitant to draw too much attention away from their existing products"
certainly you don't want to diminish sales of your own products, but if the sales would otherwise go to someone else (e.g., somebody with a color something-or-other, or a tablet something-or-other...
then maybe you do want to saturate the market with your own products?
The article posting said, "in what could be the biggest battle for the most worthless market sector (Tablet PCs)." It goes on to say something like, "it would at least be nicer than a Newton or a Palm".
This is hardly a ringing denunciation of MS while at the same time praising Apple. None of the posts as of the time I'm writing this are heaping praise on Apple either.
I really can't see a video iPod being successfull. It would make it so expensive and for what? Who puts on the visualizations and stares at them? I unfortunatley don't have time to get stoned and look at my computer screen, let alone shell out $500 to stare at my screen while listening to Wilco on the train. I am also not going to shell out $500 to watch a DIVX movie on a screen the size of a matchbook. Do you forget that this kind of activity would kill the battery in far less than the 13 hours I get out of mine? I can see them opting for a color screen just for the hell of it and putting an FM tuner in the mix. But as for video, it would have to be a new device altogether to be any good.
Sound waves should be free!
Whats wrong mith M$s tablet? I thnk they did a fine job, i played around with one at circuitccity and the hadwriting recognition is amazing. Micorsoft put out a quality product for once, but unffortunately, its too expensive and is really only a niche market.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
I won't go about watching any video-material on a few square cm. display with poor color depth and/or lighting. Besides, it will probably consume a /lot/ of batteries...
The only way to experience video anyway near pleasantly would be through a head-mounted projection display. This will, however, seriously reduce your movement and reaction capablities, but still...
Still, I think I'll pass and stick to good 'ole audio instead...
Invoicing, Time Tracking, Reporting
Its not possible.
iVideoPod would be a wankers dream.
Sheesh, its as if you guys have never even dreamt of pocket porn...
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Investment in those who are supporting the platform through thick and thin, by buying them out and/or paying for more aggressive development. First, sink funding and other technical resources into finishing Chimera and maintaining it as the default OS X browser. Consider buying or subsidizing OmniGroup for their nonbrowser products to make peace and calm fears. Buy or fund the Watson folks to both enhance Sherlock and continue work on their Sherlock companion. Bundle basic functions into Sherlock -- build Watson into a more feature rich extension of .Mac services for those who ante up the $100 a year.
Buy and bury Quark for good. QXP5 is terrible and the lack of an OS X product is hurting adoption rates of X and new hardware purchases. Release an OS X version of QPX6 as a glorified conversion tool to InDesign. Announce the EOF of QXP, put the last nail in the Quark coffin and embrace Adobe as a strategic partner.
Further work on iSync to make it the defacto desktop synchronization tool for all Palm OS devices. Create a universal ease to using Palms, Handsprings and Clies to shore up defection from those companies customers to bargain basement Pocket PCs. Any enemy of Microsoft is a friend of Apple.
Develop a TiVo and/or Replay connectivity application by purchasing or funding El Gato's EyeTV project. Don't take the time and efffort to develop a competing product when you can add the value and fuctionality end users want by working with an existing DVR hardware vendor. Apple will capture significantly more revenue if they can get just 10% of TiVo and Replay's customer base to buy a Mac by bundling innovative software than they ever will competing in an already crowded, low margin device market. Add value for an already enthusiastic customer base rather than take the R&D hit reinventing the wheel. Most early adopters have already invested in TiVo or Replay. Likewise, most are probably unwilling to abandon those in favor of a similar product from Apple.
Apple needs to reward developers to encourage new ones and the formation of corporate alliances will give more customer contact with potential "switchers."
A "Video iPod"? Good grief. Why would I want a device that's bigger than my PDA, and less functional than my notebook PC? Apple needs to read Slashdot and see what people really want. Then, they can start working on an iPod with a bacteria-based hard drive, made of X-Box parts, and mounted to a scooter. Of course, the manual would have to be open source.
The reason the Palm became popular was it was first out with the correct form factor. You couldn't carry a Newton in your pocket, so the appeal was very limited. If Newton had been the size of a Palm, it would have become popular. Palm's licensing of the OS also had an effect, but it was the convenience of the size that made it take off.I do software development for the government focused on training and tracking. We take tablet PCs and Pocket PCs very seriously for this type of work... in fact we are already doing enterprise level R&D with them as a target platform. Remember, the government collects a lot of information about things and then must manage it. This is easier said that done...
I agree with the parent that watching video on a handheld-size screen wouldn't be worth it in most instances. A laptop or maybe even a palmtop DVD player is about the bare minimum size, and even then its usefulness is limited.
But just as the iPod with a built-in speaker would be useless, it's very useful with headphones. Why not a video iPod with a set of VR glasses? The only pair I've seen was kind of awful, but maybe that's the killer hardware to make the application useful.
It'd be worthwhile for long commutes, plane trips, lying in bed and not disturbing your mate, and so on. The right video glasses would even transform portable computing -- imagine a Palm or similar sized device that could be used without a display. Enabling transparency could even allow you to see *and* see video at the same time.
I think the rumor mills are hearing the truth but misinterpreting it. A video screen (say 6-inch diag.) iPod like device as a portable photo album could be slick.
Don't think "QuickTime in your hand" think "iPhoto in your hand".
I swear by MacOS X. Although I use to swear *at* MacOS 9...
it ain't gonna happen. the best you can hope for is an apple branded DV camcorder that doubles as an ipod with removable media (DV tapes) and can play DV video. whee.
moox. for a new generation.
OK... Slashdot, News for Nerds.
/. is supposed to post news, not crazy rumors.
News!!
I'm a mac geek and I'm combing the mac rumors sites like any hard core mac geek, but
Sheesh! How long till CNN starts posting breaking stories about Apple rumors?
I'm not feeling witty so bite me
... Apple should give a try to this "BluePod" concept before burying itself under the "portable video" idea. I mean, nobody really ever wanted video-capable cellphones (ready from almost 5 years) basically because watching coloured stuff moving on a oh-so-small screen isn't exactly a great experience. A video-iPod wouldn't be different.
Apple is great in "thinking different", opening new markets. The "TabletPC" or "portable video" concepts are old things that no one still proved profitable.
-- Let's go Viridian.
I don't think a video iPod would be a bad thing - personally, I'd like a Palm style PDA with the 5 to 20 G drive inside - that way, I can store all my ebooks (yes, 16 MB has now become too small - thanks, Tolkein and Rowling!), documents, etc.
But for video - something to watch sitting at the couch ("What's that dear? You want me to sit on the couch and watch Pride and Prejudice with you again? Well, that's fine - I'll put Utena on the handheld."). Here's what I'd like to see:
1. A decent DVD ripper. Theoretically, if Apple made it so it only ripped the video to the handheld, they might - just might - avoid the legal entanglements. I know - I'm smoking crack just thinking about it, but this is a wish list. I'd like to stick a DVD into a tray in my Powermac, have it ripped to a 1 to 2 G MP4 file (including subtitles/optional languages taken care of - yes, I'm an anime geek fan, who asked you), then placed on the portable.
2. 802.11/Bluetooth support - yes, that would make copying a 1 G file a long time - but if we're assuming this also does MP3's as well, then I'm just putting the unit in the same room and synching up. Or "streaming" video/music from somewhere else. (Could be used as part of Apple's Digital Hub theory.)
Without turning this into a full fledged PDA, I can't think of what else I'd really like to see. (Well, unless you really want to make me a Gameboy Advance with a 1 G hard drive to cache ROM images of all my games so I don't have to swap cartidges - wait, there's that crack pipe again, my bad.)
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
the obvious solution:
Apple will be coming out with a special edition videoPod that will wirelessly connect to your incoming TV signal and allow you to record your favorite TV shows directly to your iPod. You could preview the captured shows directly on the new high-res color screen (running OS X lite), but the genius is that you can use the optional* connection kit to connect your videoPod to any TV or computer** to play your movies with full HD quality and surround sound.
get those rumors flying!
* = Apple always seems to charge about $20 more for "optional" cables like this
** = in the rev2 version, Apple will offer an optional adapter that turns the videoPod into a digital projector, so you can tack a bedsheet on the wall and watch your movies anywhere, as big as you like.
As far as the video i-pod is concerned, the market for such a thing would be so small. While MP3 is on just about everyone's computer, a large percentage of users are not downloading movies or editing video, mostly due to cost and bandwidth restrictions. The learning curve doesn't help either. The other reason why a vid-pod would fail is the experience would such, nobody wants to watch video on such a small screen, especially mac users who probably already have a ibook or tibook. The people who don't have laptops may be interested, but they will correctly reason that they shouldn't by such a toy, when they can save x amount of dollars more and get a full fledged laptop.
The iPod has a year warranty.
Under certain ideal conditions.
Wow, like the iPod always has.
I don't think this will fly in the consumer market though - look at all of the hospital and other field-type application that PDAs get used for. The people don't think of them as PDAs, because they're just using a tool to do a specific job. I can see tablets in a similar position, where they are adapted for specific uses in specific environments, and they do great.
I, for one, don't have good enough handwriting for anything to recognize. Even graffiti didn't get it right more than about 80% of the time.
Ironically, the only people left with decent handwriting seem to be older folks who didn't use computers until much later in life; their handwriting clarity was important for communication. Us "kids" (i'm 34) who use a computer all day generally can't hand write for shite.
See the section this story is in? You just defined Apple - it wouldn't matter, they'd still be able to sell them to the Apple faithful.
maybe it should be called viPod. Cause emacsPod would be kinda lame.
So what does the fake iWalk look like this time?
want to try plugging two hard drives into your usb2.0 ports on your motherboard, and I'll plug two hard drives into the firewire ports on my mac, lets see who can write and read a 5gb file from each drive faster...
I'll beat you by at least 40%, if you don't know why visit google.
Microsoft has been trying to sell the pen/tablet idea for 10 years now. The current incarnation seems to include a laptop with a reversable screen (ala the Sony Clie PDAs) with a touchscreen you can write on (touchscreens already existed, the writing is ala Apple's Newton or the Palm).
;)
In short, this is an ancient product, based mostly by imitating everything in sight. Not the sort of thing Apple likes to do. Especially since it has more industrial applications than consumer ones.
Of course, if Apple did do it, they would get it right. There we agree.
Windows: "Go talk to my friend, an 800 pound monopoly-abusing gorilla!"
Mac: "And here's my good buddy, the 66,000 ton Godzilla!"
Godzilla: Stomp!
"most worthless market sector (Tablet PCs)"
I hate to post an opposing opinion, but I have had my Compaq TC1000 TabletPC for nearly a month now, and it has truly revolutionized the way I use computers. As a laptop, it is powerful enough to run SQL Server 2000, IIS and Visual Studio.Net, allowing me to have a full development environment with me wherever I go.
As a tablet, I have learned to keep handwritten notes and sketches of my architectural meetings, which are later searchable without having to convert them to text first. It records voice dictation for small notes, and does nearly flawless speech recognition for larger documents. Every way I want to use this computer is covered, with and without keyboard or pen.
It is small enough to throw into any carrying bag you need it to fit in, and the resolution of 1024x768 is extremely crisp and clear, especially using the Clear Type feature of XP.
I think people who spend so much time bashing Tablets haven't bothered to see how they have revolutionized computing. Maybe not for you, but certainly for me.
For those considering a foray into the Tablet market, I highly recommend the Compaq product.
I've got VMWare workstation loaded on it, and its 30 GB drive has plenty of room for virtual machines of all my favorite operating systems...
Don't bash it until you try it. Blanket comments like "most worthless market sector" aren't doing anyone any favors, especially the people out there that could benefit from this technology. And if it isn't for you, that's fine too.
http://www.ucomics.com/foxtrot/2003/01/03/
One suggestion: wash your hands every once in a while.
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
Jobs himself has said on more than one occasion that Apple isn't planning on a PDA. I, for one, am glad. Their efforts should be focused more on things that integrate the Mac into someone's entertainment center. Imagine what Apple could do with the media center PC concept that Microsoft has. I just added a Keyspan Digital Media Remote to my iMac about a week ago, and I totally see now what I've been missing. Now I can control iTunes from the couch, blasting through the big stereo. In addition, if Apple added PVR functionality to OS X, they'd have a leg up on the competition.
What I'd like to see is a Firewire-based PVR with an 8" screen. Not only will it record TV, but you'll be able to watch it on the 8" screen (portably) and on the Mac and TV. It's like having a TiVo to go.
There's more that Apple can do - how about adding SPDIF and S-Video outputs to all Macs so that we can use them as our main DVD players? How about that remote control, a la MacTV?
There's so much that can be done to make a Mac truly the center of a digital lifestyle, and a PDA just isn't one of them. Apple should focus on entertainment, something they're good at, both with A/V and Photo products.
I think Apple should get together with Apple records and create a line of pies. Specifically, an apple pie. So then it would be the Apple Apple Apple pie.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
That would be great. They were just too ahead of their time the first time, and people wernt ready.
The future of tablets may be underestimated as well.. 10 years from now I'd bet they are just as much a common appliance as the PDA is today.. A staple in the business world.. creeping into the home..
Its a shame Jobs is an idiot, and got out of the market a tad too early, when they *created* the market in the first place.. Just before it really took off..
Patience is a virtue
---- Booth was a patriot ----
...is the theatre which surrounds it. Most Macheads enjoy the rumor-mongering as much as Apple's actual products. They're cheaper, too. ;-)
This is my post. There are many others like it. If you don't like what you read here, go try one of the others.
A great concept,... but they are too expensive, except for the affluent.
That never stopped Apple before. *cough*Cube*cough* (not to mention the $10k TAM.)
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Here's why I'm willing to post as me (not AC) and say that I doubt this will come through:
It's internal configuration is based on a G4 and the bus config is simmilar to the powerbook.
Note that the G4 powerbook has 5 hrs battery life; the 14" G3 iBook is rated at 6 hrs. G4 is a bad way to go for tablet where battery life is key.
In fact there is only a single (enhanced) fire connector in the lower right corner, which connects to the power adapter.
No reason for them to go to the expense of combining power & firewire in this way. (Yes, I know FW ca carry power, but you don't want to run a whole computer off of it.) If anything, they'll keep the same interchangable power plug (works on current and old notebooks) they've used for years.
An optional seperate blue-tooth keyboard is available.
Again, I can't imagine them going with the expense of something like this (bluetooth on a keyboard) if they're trying to stay at all competitive.
At the desk, the tablet can be set in a lucite cradle with matching fire-wire plug, making it look a lot like a 14" apple studio display. On the go, just pluck it from the lucite base and go.
(Sounds nice. If they do make a tablet, this would be cool.)
There are no buttons at all on the device. The computer is turned on or brought out of sleep by placing your hand palm down on the screen.
Even Apple knows this is a bad way to go. Few, small, hidden buttons? Yes. No buttons, lay your palm on the screen? No.
This also serves as a biometric password based on finger lengths and palm shape (if enabled).
Doubtful for many reasons, not the least of which is that touchscreens assume there's only one point on the screen you want activated. Mush your hand on a touchscreen (I have one, 17" Mitsubishi CRT) or a Palm and see what happens.
The case is nominally white, but fiber optic LEDs allow the case to take on hues from red to blue.
Sounds good. And expensive. Pass. (And what exactly is a fiber-optic LED? The hallmark of a good troll--neat-sounding things that just don't quite make sense.)
I've heard the price point will be in the low $2000 range.
This is the killer. Everything listed above is doable, but putting it all on one device would be $4000. Even if Apple comes out with a stripped-down tablet, it'll be hard to match the lower-cost ones, like Compaq's $1699 offering. And Apple is hardly known for making low-cost stuff. I'll stake my good Slashdot name (har) on this one. They might do all this, but not at that price. It'll either have less features or be *way* over $2000. And if this guy is right, I'll buy one, because this would be an awesome unit at that price.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
I'm a bit surprised by your comments. 256Mb CF cards are now down to 24p/Mb (£60 from dabs.com), and I wonder how many of these you would need for a two week holiday. I'd imagine the average user would only get through one or two (depending on the size/quality of your photos). For instance, a 3mp picture at normal compression quality on my camera tends to come in at about 600k. I could fit >400 pictures on a single 256Mb CF card.
Even 'fine' quality jpegs are only around 1,200k - giving you 200 pictures/card.
If you're an avid photographer, I'd have thought you could spend the cash on a couple of 1Gb microdrives (£200/each).
I suppose if you want to store all your pictures uncompressed, you're looking at up to about 20Mb/picture, which is when current CF will not suffice, but then solutions to that problem already exist - see The Digital Wallet.
However, I don't think the number of people who will only take photos uncompressed is very high - I think CF works fine for the vast majority.
Perhaps I'm underestimating the number of photos an avid photgrapher would take in two weeks?
I don't think a video iPod would be a bad thing - personally, I'd like a Palm style PDA with the 5 to 20 G drive inside - that way, I can store all my ebooks (yes, 16 MB has now become too small - thanks, Tolkein and Rowling!), documents, etc.
I swear, the only reason the storage market hasn't died is because of the pack rat mentality. Do you really need all your ebooks in your pocket, or just the ones you're reading right now? I can just imagine a future where every device we own contains all the data we have in every other device because you never know when you might need it...
This sounds too good not to be true. The little nuances, like a battery operated pen and the lucite stand make it sound like inside info.
But I seriously doubt Jobs is going to announce it tommorrow. If they were we'd have heard some hype like we did for the ipod and the imac.
This sounds like some disgruntled contractor that got to see a prototype thats 6 months for mproduction. It's telling that he says hes a power systems engineer and most of his comments concern things that eat power.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
If Apple was gonna do something, it would do it right with something like this.
1cm thick portable G4 system? I don't think so.
Remove the keyboard and trackpad from a Powerbook G4 and you'll end up with something that's about 1 cm thick. Remove the hard drive and optical drive to save even more space and weight (and power). It could be done.
I write in my journal
Just in case anybody reads this obvious troll and believes it, iSync works like a charm. Palm's software can be very quirky, but for syncing computer-to-computer and computer-to-iPod, it's flawless.
I write in my journal
Wouldn't you think there's more room for a battery in a 15.4" screen TiBook than a 14.1" screen iBook? Or is the iBook thicker? Sorry, but I haven't brought my micrometer to the Apple store lately.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
... or use adapters lik the Archos unit.
just my blog and pix
There is no techniocal reason why OS X can't run on TabletPC hardware --except Classic, of course. Imagine: Cocoa, Carbon, Darwin, not to mention QuickTime all runing on a TabletPC with Intel Inside.
If apple made a tablet pc, type of thing, it would use their PPC processor, not an intel one.
This is not only cool, it's a step towards a new-and-improved hardware-independent Apple.
Steve Jobs himself said that they would never put OSX/aqua on the x86 platform himself.
The only danger I see is that if it's released for TabletPC, it will be bootlegged and running on a standard wintel box in no time.
See first comment, by tabletpc, they mean their own design/their own platform.
I hope that was a troll, as everything you said was either half informed, or total bunk. I thin the only accurate sentence was your first one. (And don't ask me what Mac OS-10 is.)
Oops, guess you're not really a BMW owner since any BMW owner would know that the models are referred to as the 3-series, 5-series etc., not the 300-series ;-)
Please examine the stats on the Archos Jukebox 6000. Not only does it have a built in screen to watch DIVX MPEG4 movies and a 20GB storage capacity, it also can use a digital still/video camera attachment (webcam quality, some places are shipping this with it) and a video output jack (RCA phono plug). The thinkgeek price is a little high, i've seen it for around 300 by cruising pricewatch.com. Yes, it's mac an PC compatible. The 29GB non-video enabled jukeboxes have sunk well below 300.