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Jobs Previews Displays, Tiger at WWDC
DonaldGelman writes "Apple has just announced a 30-inch Studio Display capable of displaying a resolution of 2560x1600. The display requires a new Nvidia card with 2 parallel DVI connections. The display is going to retail for $3299 in August, and the Nvidia card for around $599." Jobs also announced new 20- and 23-inch displays, for $1299 and $1999 in July. All three feature a new aluminum enclosure, and DVI. Also from WWDC...
Jobs also previewed Tiger, with Spotlight (fast iTunes-like searching in all apps, and systemwide), Dashboard (Konfabulator-like widgets combined with Exposé for fast showing/hiding), Automator (visual AppleScript, combining prewritten actions into scripts), H.264 code for QuickTime (high definition scalable video from MPEG), iChat AV conferencing (up to 10 for audio, four for video), RSS reading in Safari, Core Image and Core Video (realtime filters at the core OS level), and system-wide Sync Services. All of this is extensible (except for iChat conferencing), with SDKs available for developers.
There's a lot here, and a more detailed description is forthcoming. Tiger will be available in the first half of 2005.
Apple tends to succeed better when they adopt the standards (USB, Firewire, etc) rather than go it their own (ADC over DVI, for example).
I've been contemplating one of these screens, but never wanted to commit because I couldn't just slap in a KVM for my other machines (mainly the Windows 98 Box fo' Games and my wife's Windows 98 Box fo' Work Crap). Now, I don't have any excuse!
(Looks at price tag.)
Well, I guess I still have one....
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
This is a completely Apple-created innovation and is not a rip-off. Oh no. Definitely not.
No, I'm serious. Really. Because despite all the talk of it being a clone of Konfabulator, it appears, in essense, to be Apple's original Desk Accessories brought into the 21st Century. Which is nice.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
The new advanced video technologies (core image) seem to have longhorn like requirements:
ATI Radeon 9800 XT
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
ATI Radeon 9600 XT
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600
NVIDIA GeForceFX Go 5200
NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 Ultra
Seems some current Mac models will not support this! You can bet there will now be users who think that 10.4 will not run on their machine just because core image/video does not. They just won't get the advanced new graphics.
So, they did it again. They released the new version of their software, and it has real new features that really enhance the experience and could really compel me to buy it. Hopefully they have also fixed some of the issues I had with especially Safari (unusable while loading slow page) and iChat (goes bad after receiving voice chat invite behind firewall).
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
Aha! So this is why nVidia has been working on the 2 card video load balancing system.
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
Believe me, Apple is running that joke into the ground (note the picture).
If Slashdot thinks that nobody will buy it, it is almost guaranteed that the display will be on backorder for the next six months.
This is because Slashdot is a community for people who don't realize that "doing something nobody else does" is worth it to many consumers.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
If their high-end Mac starts at $3K, the iMac base is $1300, the lowest iBook is $1100, and the eMac is $800, what do you consider MID-RANGE?????
This is about as insightful as saying BMW can't compete with a used Hyundai.
To lessen the Flamebait aspect, quality costs money or time. If you want to build your own hot-rod in the back yard over a year that's great, but don't go pooh-poohing my brand new Corvette over it.
R: That voice. Where have I heard that voice before? B: In about 365 other episodes. But I don't know who it is either.
As sarcastic as it sounds, it's true. The Desk Accessories weren't *real* apps, just little buggers running in an early 1980's kind of multitasking mode.
o sh &story=Puzzle.txt&sortOrder=Sort%20by%20Date&detai l=medium&search=Desk%20Accessory
http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macint
So yes, it's a rip off of Konfabulator. But Konfabulator was a rip off of Apple's original. Sort of like how Apple did labels in pre-OS X and Unsanity provided them as an APE module. Then Apple re-integrated them in OS X.
What matters here is it's still an opportunity for 3rd parties to provide a superior alternative to a basic function provided by Apple. Watson is better than Sherlock. xPad is better than stickies. Camino is better than Safari. ( of course, these are all arguable )
Ho hum. I don't really care. But from a usability standpoint it's a *great* idea to have my sticky notes *appear* ( rather than fly away ) when I move my mouse cursor to a certain corner. I like the sound of that, since I use stickies all the time.
lorem ipsum, dolor sit amet
When you make tools that enhance the OS, For any OS. You suffer the risk that the OS maker will use it in the next version. In general this is better off for the consumers. Because they don't have to search for a tool that they don't know that they need, then pay extra money for it. But if your tool enhances the interface (Apple's bread and butter selling point), they will take it (if they can) or buy it (if they have to) to put it in their software to make it better.
So if you want to make a living off your tools you better copyright or paten it, so Apple will need to pay for it to put it in their next OS.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The same reason Sony first sold the Dual Shock controller separately, and then included it as the default controller. So that developers could rely on analog controls, and design their games accordingly.
How many big-name developers would include support for Konfabulator's interesting features? How many when it's a default part of Tiger?
There you go then.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
I can't speak for Konfabulator, which I never really found useful, but LaunchBar is already facing stiff competition from QuickSilver, a free and considerably more intuitive work-alike.
I don't know where you get the idea that Apple is replacing these programs. When they released Safari, did everybody stop using other web browsers? Does nobody use Entorage or MailSmith or Eudora just because Apple includes Mail? Are people going to stop using NetNewsWire just because you can read RSS feeds in Safari now? Don't people use VLC dispite QuickTime?
crushing the very developers that make people switch to the Mac because of the cool things that shareware developers do.
I don't know about you, but I switched because of the things that Apple had developed.
I would say there are more Konfabulator users that were surprised and or upset than its developers. The Konfabulator idea has been around for a long time, since early 90's. It's just that Arlo and crew had the best implementation around that I've ever seen.
If Apple wants the developers code, it will purchase. Its done so with Soundjam (which became iTunes) and other applications. If your idea just furthered their idea, then obviously they just go with theirs. According to the preview Dashboard will have its on SDK kit. That said, it may be possible for people to develop simultaneously for both Dashboard and Konfabulator, but that depends more on the backend engine.
I really LOVE Konfabulator, but that said, Apple has already addressed the one biggest issue I have with it--desktop clutter. Sure its cool to have the weather, newsfeeds, post-its, etc. all providing you continous data on your desktop, but they also just clutter up your desktop, having them exist off-screen and come on with a function key is a perfect idea. A bring the widgets out to play, now put your toys away concept.
Hell, if you want to spend some real money, buy one of these babies.
3840 x 2400. 9,216,000 pixels for about $6,300. Per pixel, that's cheaper than buying two 30" Cinema displays.
Now on the other hand all this looks surprisingly similar to my own application Watch It. But I'm just going to rewrite it-- no bitching here. I was even thinking about writing a calculator using the same basic design, transparent and resizable. But I thought no one would use it so I haven't created the application which would be trivial. Now, however, I might reconsider writing it, because there are going to be a lot of users still using Panther and earlier after this comes out.
Win a signed Stephen Carpenter ESP Guitar from the Deftones: http://def-tag.com/?r=0008781
"Could you please stop making stuff that only 2 people in the world will buy? (i.e. that $3500 30" Display that requires a special graphics card)"
A.) It'll drive down the price of current LCD's.
B.) It's not for you Mr. Sixpack, it's for us artists. We plunk down $3000 -- $4000 once in a while for stuff like this.
"Derp de derp."
NEWSFLASH!!! Most consumer goods come out of the same plants as other goods. And yet, the quality is vastly different between them. The VALUE is in the design, not just of the outside, but of the inside. If you spec out a monitor with substandard parts in an inefficient layout, your Chinese fab will deliver a monitor with those parts in that layout whether it's right or not. After all, they have your reconditioning contract, too.
Take the hook off a Mac desktop and compare the internals to any PC desktop. Looks the same -- from three feet away. Get any closer and you realize how different the "commodities" really are.
If you don't care about such things, fine. Use what you want to use. Just realize that you can throw together eggs, ham and butter and still make a shitty omelette.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
Don't forget coders. I'd love to fill that 30" of goodness with 9 point fixed with font. But unlike with those designers and video editors, $3k is a bit out of my budget (not to mention the $3k mac to go with it -- need linux support for that new vid card first).
Do you really need reason for beer? Wingman Brewers
Umm... have you heard of this thing called Darwin?
I _HATE_ it when people bring up Darwin as if its equivalent to Mac OSX. Using Darwin is _not_ like using Mac OSX, and that is what is important to the user.
You want people to switch to Linux??? Make gnome work as well as Aqua and you're half-way there.
-B
Their market shares doesn't stop at a vague percentage. Their market share is much more than 2% in three domains:
1. Editing
2. Digital imaging studios
3. Medical imaging
And incidently, those are markets where people (or companies) are likely to spend $3500 in big screens.
It looks like M. Jobs is not that stupid after all. It looks like it's a good think he is leading Apple and not you.
Write boring code, not shiny code!
Konfabulator was a very original piece of software. I can't think of anything else like it. Apparently, Arlo can't as well... and he once worked as a UI designer for Apple.
Dashboard is practically a direct rip-off of Konfabulator. It comes with similar default "widgets," widgets are transparent and glossy, and new widgets can be developed with JS.
Moreover, Apparently Konfabulator is very popular at Apple and Pixar (lots of registered Apple and Pixar users). Schiller supposedly loves the damn thing.
I have no problems with Apple adding something like this into MacOS. However, once they start stomping on the rights of small developers, that's fucking low. This is the second time they've done this, and this time it's an even more blatant case of copyright infringement.
If Apple had developed Konfabulator, and Arlo had developed dashboard 1 year later, Arlo would've been nailed by Apple's legal department.
Why should we even attempt to develop platform specific utilities and software for OS X? If it becomes popular, Apple is going to snag it, make money off of it, and not compensate the original authors.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
Yes, it's such a shame that Apple "ripped off" an idea that they developed in the first place! Talk about bad apples on the part of the Konfabulator folks. They rip off Apple, hope no-one calls them on it, then flip out when Apple puts the functionality back into their OS because they discovered that people found it useful.
To the Konfabulator folks: deal. Or innovate. Don't rip off an idea a company implemented over ten years ago and complain when they implement it again.
Honestly. I don't care.
I don't care who did it first. Like I don't care who created the window GUI first. I hate the idea that someone owns an idea.
People wanted something like Konfabulator but without the problems that follow Konfabulator. Apple now gives it to them. And I really don't care if it is similar in some way. Konfabulator took an old idea and made it better. Apple now does the same. The Konfabulator guys have no rights to start a riot about this. Now they are forced to make their product better. So basically the users win.
If Apple had been successful at stopping everyone else using the window system we never would have gotten a window systems we now have. If it is possible to completely own an idea there would never be any innovation. There would be no progress.
How would the world be if the Beatles would have registered Rock'n'Roll and no one been allowed to make anything similar.
To take an idea further you must first steal it. And I don't give a damn who made it first. Sure. Give them credits. Don't take it and say you made it first. But take the idea and make it better.
Otherwise we would still be trying to fish up ants with treebranches. Or no wait. The chimps already have registered that and copyrighted.
Most of the iPod's data files have already been worked out to a great degree. Not everything, mind you, but most of it. All the important bits, anyway. It just takes a bit of searching around.
:)
I wrote a set of C++ classes for dealing with the iPod's data files, and with the help of Aero, we've refined it to cover just about everything in a plug-in for foobar 2000 called foo_pod.
We're almost there with real, live updating, smart playlist support now (which no other third party iPod-capable app has yet, that I know of). Just a few minor things left to be done on the back end, and the interface sounds like it is coming along nicely.
There's very little an actual SDK could add at this point. When the iPod is connected to the computer, it just appears to be a hard drive to the computer. No special communication channels we can find at all.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
i know some jackass always says it, but I'm not paying $129.95 for the latest upgrade.
Apple doesn't include any activation or copy protection system in OS X, so it just takes one alpha geek to buy a copy and then it filters down when people see something cool and ask them to install it on their Mac, usually proffering beer and liasons with loose women in gratitude. Remember, most Mac users, like most Windows users, don't have much idea what version of the OS they're using.
I suspect this is part of Apple's distribution strategy, otherwise they'd at least ask for a serial number or something.
You left out the biggest market share...the multi-billion dollar-a-year printing industry. Macs totally and completely rule this still.
After all these years, Macs still run that industry. Sure, there are people that use PC's in the industry, but they are very few and far between.
But, from what I've seen in my travels around printing, it's dying a slow death thanks to online content. Packaging is the place to be in printing/graphic arts now adays...just FYI for you youngsters out there looking to get into the industry.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
Sorry, but Konfabulator simply isn't worth a "overflowing wheelbarrow of cash". I wish I could say it is. But it isn't.
Just like menubar clock. It's a great idea, almost natural. But does that mean it's worth a ton of money? No.
The real money is, and should be, in real user-centric applications, like spreadsheets, word processing, graphics processing, etc. Typically OS vendors move into "utility" space, but NOT into application space. The exception is Microsoft, which dominates both. Apple only dominates when there is a "missing or poorly supported piece", such as Keynote and Safari.
Konfabulator is not an original idea at all, sorry. Classic Mac OS had desk accessories since 1984, Windows 98 had its Active Desktop (which nobody ever used because it was too unstable, but did much the same thing). The only thing new here is using Javascript, and Windows did that almost a decade ago.
I have sympathy for Perry and Arlo, but I'm not about to vilify Apple over bringing DAs into the 21st century.
As someone who works in the medical imaging field, I'd have to ask you where are all these Mac's? The only two Macs that I know of are 8 years old and were crappy when new. Of all the medical imaging equipment I know of (CT, MRI, ultrasound, nuclear), none of it is Mac based anymore. None.
Wait -- you're claiming that slashdot, the community which buys every consumer device regardless of its original intent solely to take it apart and install Linux on it, knows the "true value of things?"
I'm sorry man, but in a capitalist society, the "true value of things" is set by how much people will pay for them. People will pay more than the selling price to get their hands on an iPod Mini. Most people won't even pay MSRP for a Creative Zen. This is because the iPod Mini is not, as you suggest, "worse" than most major mp3 players, but because it is better in every way the counts for a consumer device. It is easy and quick to learn, load and use. It has sufficiently long life and sufficiently good sound quality. It is small but sturdy and controllable with one hand. There are only two connectors to hook up and few external controls to break. It looks clean and nice(and isn't the least bit shiny, mind you). And it has a great warranty.
How is it worse than other players? Each of its competitors fails in one or more of the above strengths. Some have more features but a hideous interface. Some have a nice interface, but are too delicate. Only the cost, which enough people seem willing to pay to make it foolish for them to charge less, is consistantly "worse" than its competitors...but if you care so much about cost that you're willing to buy inferior goods, go get whatever RCA device they're selling at WalMart and give up the pretense that you want a hi-tech device. Price and quality are, aside from some really good deals, mutually exclusive -- because any company that cares enough to make real quality gear should be smart enough to charge for it.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
Konfabulator is just desk accessories, using Javascript instad of C. Sorry, that refinement is not worth a wheelbarrow of cash. I have every sympathy for Arlo and Perry, but it just isn't that unique an idea. I mean, Mac has provided desk "widgets" without Javascript in 1984... and Windows did it with Javascript in 1998.
On the other hand, Spotlight sounds nothing like Launchbar. TFG. Have you actually tried Launchbar?
I was a big fan of virtual desktops when I was using Linux, and I have 8 (EIGHT!) virtual desktops here at work. At home, I haven't even bothered to look for something to handle that since expose. I find Expose cooler, more convenient and faster to use than multiple desktops. Get a mouse with a few extra buttons, and bind the expose commands to those extra buttons. It changes the whole experience.
Gawd, you just don't get it do you, there are designers in the studio where I work who will literally wet their khaki corduroy pants over this, not matter how many video cards it requires. Screen real-estate isn't important to the average programmer geek or management wonk, but to a designer (who by definition are very visual people), to have all their tools on screen at once is priceless.
The cost, sure it's expensive, but two things; one, it's Apple, Apple users expect to pay more, and most of the time prefer to pay for quality over quantity, two, for the percieved effect it will have on productivity, a couple of decent paying clients will cover the cost of one of these.
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Contrast this with Sun ("Let's 'standardize' an impractical Java API and leave it up to somebody else to implement our mess!") or Microsoft ("Let's keep everything under lock-and-key so no other vendor can interfere!").
There ain't no rules here; we're trying to accomplish something.
Konfabulator is DEAD.
Nonsense. There are things Konfabulator does today that Dashboard won't do at all, such as displaying content on the desktop while you're working. Konfabulator can continue to have a long and healthy life if the developers keep pushing its feature set ahead of Dashboard's.
Just like Watson is DEAD.
Amazing how Watson remained alive long enough for the author to sell it to Sun, eh?
Just like MS gave up on IE for Mac when Apple started bundling Safari.
Oh, puleeeze. Microsoft wasn't doing any work with Mac IE even before Safari came out -- hell, it was Microsoft's penchance for sitting on its ass that prompted Apple to develop Safari in the first place, remember? And let's not forget the truckload of third-party web browsers currently available for the Mac, none of which are "dying" just because Safari's available. Some of them even use the same Webkip API Safari does, fer crissakes.
Bottom line: Your notion that Konfabulator is "dead" because Apple announced Dashboard today (and won't release it until sometime next year) is premature and unsupported by history. Quit nailing your palm to your forehead, the neighbors are complaining.
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
...I hope it *is* Konfabulator!
I hope it's not Konfabulator. It seems like a great idea, but on my 17" PowerBook G4 1.33Mhz, it either slows the machine to a crawl or crashes it outright.
The people behind Konfabulator may have had a good idea, but I'll trust Apple to code it so it works fast and reliably.
World's tallest building rises in the desert