iPod Shuffle, Mac Mini, iLife '05, iWork

A number of announcements from the Mac World keynote this afternoon. The iPod Shuffle is pack-of-gum sized, no screen, weighs less than an ounce. Ships today, $99 for the half gig, $149 for a gig. The Mac Mini is the headless iMac... 6x6x2.5 with all the expected plugs, starting at $499. Lot's of tiger bits, spotlight, virtual folders in Mail.app. iLife '05 will ship Jan 22. iPhoto gets folders and video support. iMovie supports HD. GarageBand gets 8 channel recording. iWork includes Keynote 2, and 'Pages' the new word processor and ships the same day as iLife.

Comments

goodbye bank account

[rwurth]

wait, cheap Mac, cheap iPod. Nevermind

Re:goodbye bank account

[ThousandStars]

What will the Apple trolls carp about now?

Ah yes, that's right. The one mouse button. It is at least getting harder to bash Apple products.

Re:goodbye bank account

[beef curtains]

Yep. In fact, here they are:

http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

Re:goodbye bank account

[sydsavage]

Quote from the Mac Mini webpage:

And yes, Mac mini will take advantage of your two-button USB mouse with scroll-wheel and your favorite USB keyboard. Just plug them in.

Since you supply the mouse and keyboard, they've essentially nipped that perennial argument in the bud.

Re:goodbye bank account

[TheViffer]

Depends ... could be hidden costs. On the specifications page it clearly states the following.

"Memory upgrade must be performed by an Apple Authorized Service provider."

So does that void the warrenty if you crack the case open to swap out say the memory or drives?

Re:goodbye bank account

[javaxman]

Nope. No mouse in the box. No keyboard, either.

The box is - get this - smaller than the standard iPod box.

That's what they'll complain about. No mouse sold with the computer. Cheap-ass Apple, expecting me to already have a USB mouse... oh, wait...

Re:goodbye bank account

[sydsavage]

Yep. I was really expecting a satellite radio iPod. Well, that's the last time I get my iRumors from Lindsey Lohan's sister.

Re:goodbye bank account

[b1t r0t]

It shouldn't be any problem. In fact, that's how I got my most recent Mac, a Blue & White G3 for $110. Except in that case, someone would have had to pay me to take that stupid hockey puck of a mouse off their hands.

I like how Apple suggests on their Macmini page that programmers should get one and a KVM switch, and put it on top of their PC.

Re:goodbye bank account

[Anonymous Coward]

There are two reasons that Apple doesn't ship two-button mice - one is simplicity for beginning users, the other is that it forces lazy developers to expose functionality in the UI and NOT just bury it in a contextual menu. Windows drives me batty because features are commonly implemented that way.

Re:goodbye bank account

[nadadogg]

I know, I've been putting off buying a mac for quite some time, this makes it much harder to just say no.

Re:goodbye bank account

[mindstrm]

A bold move?

OS X has never been limitd to a 1 button mouse. IN fact, every mac user I've seen who uses a mouse uses a typical multi-button optical mouse, or other exotic device. Almost nobody uses the stock 1 button mouse.

The only reason it's even mentioned here is because apple doens't supply peripherals with the mini.

You plug in a two button mouse, and it behaves as you would expect, it's not a "kludge" or anything like that. THis is nothing new, macs haven't been limited to one button mice since along, long time ago.

Re:goodbye bank account

[pyros]

Also, unless they've changed it, Apple applies a blue paste (don't know for sure what it is) to the screws before the final assembly is made

Probably just Locktite, it's used to hold the screws in tight and keep moisture from seeping through the screw-hole. Should be able to buy it anywhere and re-apply.

Re:goodbye bank account

[Infamous Coward]

Hidden costs indeed. If you upgrade the Mac mini to 1GB of memory through the Apple store, the additional cost is $425! So that $500 marvel is now $925. And for OS X to really sing, mucho memory is required.

Sadly, the math is starting to break down...

Re:goodbye bank account

[Moofie]

If you'd ever been on a phone call with your grandmother trying to explain the difference between the right and the left mouse button, you'll know...APPLE WAS NOT WRONG.

The one-button mouse is a good default. The fact that they support a richer interface for the people that want one is great.

Re:goodbye bank account

[Snocone]

The fact that I can't carry a few spare AAA batteries

Ahem.

" ... Extend the playback time of your iPod shuffle with the Battery Pack, powered by two AAA batteries..."

Won't work as a plain ole' USB thumb device

Ahem.

"... Store files along with your music ..." ...Closed systems ... gouge me on a replacement battery ... doesn't play OGGs...

Nobody. In. The. Target. Market. Gives. A. Flying. Fuck.

Should I keep going?

Well, you haven't actually started yet, so please.

Re:goodbye bank account

[Thundersnatch]

Look at the fine print at the bottom of the iPod Shuffle page:

"Do not eat iPod shuffle.

Nice...

Re:goodbye bank account

[Migrant Programmer]

Trolls indeed.

Closed systems.

Boo hoo.

The fact that I can't carry a few spare AAA batteries.

A battery extender accessory that uses AAA batteries was also released today.

The fact that Apple will gouge me on a replacement battery when it dies (and it will).

Boo hoo. Replace it yourself.

The fact that I'll need to tie the iPod Shuffle's serial number to my PC.

WTF?

The fact that it's firmware likely isn't upgradable.

The firmware of other iPods is upgradeable, and has been upgraded several times by Apple in the past.

It probably doesn't play OGGs.

It probably doesn't play the Adlib file format either. That's about the same amount of impact on its potential user base. Before I forget: boo hoo.

Won't work as a plain ole' USB thumb device.

It sure will. You can specify how much of the space is used for music, and how much is used for other files.


Oh yeah, and the fact that, apparantly, you can listen ONLY in shuffle mode - hence the name.

Apparently you need to get a clue. There's a switch to change between Shuffle mode and Play In Order mode.

Apple's iPod shuffle website

IHBT, and I am having a very nice day, thank you.

Re:goodbye bank account

[kzinti]

Who in their right mind buys memory from an OEM? Don't get on Apple's case about expensive memory, because it's true in the PC world too! Whether it's Dell, Sony, IBM, whoever - you're almost always better off dollarwise to buy your system with the least available memory, then buy the upgrade from someone else. With the exception of the occasional special deal, this has been true for as long as I can remember.

Of course, this begs the question: does the mini allow user upgrades? Can't check because the Apple site isn't responding at the moment, but that little box looks to be shut tighter than a virgin's iPod.

Re:goodbye bank account

[lamz]

On a 1980s computer, with a more limited set of functions, and a computing public with a lower level of computing knowledge, one mouse button was probably better than two.

Good point. There once was a time when you had to explain to people what double-clicking meant. (And if they had an Atari ST, they had to learn to double-click really really quickly.)

I would add that the day it made sense to have a two-button mouse over a one-button mouse was the day that contextual menus were invented, because that was the first time that a consistent meaning was applied to the second button. Not to pick on my poor old Atari ST, but the uses for the second mouse button varied so much between applications that it was more trouble to try and figure out what it did than use it.

Notes for MS Bigots: The Atari ST shipped with a two-button mouse years before PCs even had mice. IBM first introduced contextual menus with OS/2 Warp.

Re:goodbye bank account

[Golias]

My Mac mini order would have gone through by now if you bastards were not slashdotting the store to gawk at the specs!

Somebody hurry up and start an EQ2 vs. WoW flamewar or something, so the Apple Store servers will free up!

Re:goodbye bank account

[Moofie]

Look at all the icons in your system tray. Take an inventory of all the functions that are available with the right click, and then all the things that happen with a left click. I've been using computers for 20 years, and I not infrequently have to try both.

This is poor, poor design. Yes, it's poor design by the coders, but it's abetted by the availability of a right mouse button. Too many UI designers use that as a crutch. Don't know where a function should go? Sure, put it in a contextual menu.

With the Mac, all contextual menus are optional. I simply don't use them very much. I use middle-click for new tabs in Safari, and I like the scroll wheel, but neither of those features are critical to making the operating system function.

Try to run Windows without a right mouse button. It's possible, but MUCH harder.

Re:goodbye bank account

[Frobozz0]

Good points!

My favorite windows UI quirk is how every application out there seems to duplicate every menu item in an icon stop. Because, yeah, it really helps me to see a thousand little indecipherable icons that have commands that also show up in the menu.

Oh-- and let's not forget how you restart a PC (not that you have to do it much)! Click "start." Select "shut down." Now select "restart." Yeah, I would have found that.

Re:goodbye bank account

[MasonMcD]

"Mac mini: now shipping, with no-button mouse"

Leave it to Apple to simplify a single-element item.

Re:goodbye bank account

[wwwillem]

Just bought (also Canada) a handsomely equipped Shuttle (AMD 64 3000+, 1 Gig, 80 Gig, DVD-R, no WiFi), so that sounds comparable to your Mac Mini config. And I paid also little above CAD 1000. I know you can buy a 500 bucks (400 US) PC, but then "you get what you pay for". So, even in Canadian dollars, I think this mini Mac is decently priced.

Anyway, if you're so serious about it being too expensive in Canada, Apple luckily made it small enough that you can just buy one at Fry's and take it home (in your coat pocket :). It's even cheap enough that you don't have to pay duties on it when bringing it back home.

My only concern with this Mini Mac next to my monitor and keyboard would be that I would be so tempted to put my beer mug on it. It really looks like a thick coaster .... the bad news being of course that the beer will warm up pretty quickly :-).

Mac Mini

[deviator]

Nice. These types of things at these pricepoints are the types of things that can change the world - every kid & teenager could end up with one, using their Mom & Dad's hand-me-down Keyboard/Video/Mouse.

Re:Mac Mini

[rayde]

i agree. most people have always agreed that mac os x is superior, but price has always been the sticky issue. with price becoming more realistic, perhaps apple can start winning back its market share.

i think this is just the beginning. if apple stays in this market, we'll see more powerful iterations of the mac mini in a similar price point with more powerful features down the road.

kudos apple!

Re:Mac Mini

[Xzzy]

That's not the point, the point is it makes it marketable as a PC replacement. A cheap replacement.

Apple started hooking PC users in with the iPod, now they can reel them in with a plug and play replacement.

Gotta admit it's pretty clever. ;)

Re:Mac Mini

[mithras the prophet]

It's even better than one-button. Steve is officially selling the zero-mouse-button Mac.

Re:Mac Mini

[BWJones]

The other item that makes these particularly interesting that everyone is missing is that they could be great little servers. I have been using a G3 based iMac for a page that routinely serves up 45k hits/day and a served up a recent Slashdotting with 450k hits/day without a hiccup. That was a 400Mhz G3, so I wonder what two or three of these Mac Mini's with a KVM switch could do for very little money.

I've got my order in.

Re:Mac Mini

[rho]

Jesus... Slashdot is the new home for the perpetually whiny.

8 years ago, it was "why doesn't Apple have a sub-notebook?" Now everybody wants a huge, testicle-frying Super-notebook.

6 years ago, it was "why doesn't Apple have a server?" Well, golly, Apple's server offerings kick everybody else's ass, but of course, since you actually have to pay money for them, some people bitch about them.

2 years ago, it was "if only Apple sold a cheap headless Mac, I'd buy one!" Okay, your time is now, hero.

Some people are never satisfied. You got what you wanted--now you want more? If they included a mouse, you'd bitch about how it was the 1-button Apple mouse, or you'd bitch that the keyboard wasn't wireless.

Buy your own goddamn keyboard and mouse and STFU.

Re:Mac Mini

[Trurl's Machine]

What I can't quite make out is if the MiniMac is fanless?

I'm typing this right from the showroom in mini-MWSF in Paris. Silent work is also quite important for me. What can I say is that Mini Mac is totally silent when it works (I literally did press my ear to it). Maybe it has a fan that kicks in once in a while, like in iBooks, but when it just runs - it runs with no fan.

Redundant?

[timster]

no wireless. Slower than a dell. Lame.

From iPod Shuffle website

[m_dob]

2. Do not eat

http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/

$499 Mac? Damn

[Anonymous Coward]

Well now that's it's true...damn, even I might buy one!

I'm begining to get the feeling that Steve Jobs might be trying to reposition Apple. Hardware is a mugs game, after all. We all know what happened the last time Apple tried to licence the Mac to clone builders..but what if they tried it now?

It seems to me that over the last two or three years Apple has been working to reposition itself from a hardware company to a more diverse place, where the OS and the services it offers (E.g. iTunes) are what matters more than the hardware. The $499 Mac would seem to enforce that point. The idea is obviously to try and penetrate into the mid range market; make the Mac an everymans computer. If they can do it, and if they can increase their market share, they would certainly seem to have enough room to manovour and licence the Mac to clone builders again..

Re:Yes, but...

[Andy_R]

Yes. From http://www.apple.com/iwork/

"Pages is compatible. It imports AppleWorks documents and imports and exports Microsoft Word documents. Want to share your documents online? Pages also offers the easiest way to create great looking PDF files. Pages makes it easy to share your work with others."

Cheap mac?

[Cyn]

Head exploding.

Perfect Terminal

[hbuschme]

The Mac Mini will be a perfect X-Terminal to use with a Linux box in another room. You'll have a silent and small box on your desk and the fat and loud server is down in the basement. Great.

Never owned a Mac in my life but I'm getting one..

[WIAKywbfatw]

The Mac Mini looks like it's the thing for me. I've never owned a Mac in my life - I've used a few in my time and I've been to a few Mac Expos with Mac-owning friends - but I think that's about to change.

This is the Mac for all of us who said Macs were too expensive. For around £400 (yeah, Apple just like the rest of them loves screwing non-Americans when it comes to exchange rates) I'll have a nice little toy that'll give me some first-hand experience of MacOS 10.4 plus my girlfriend will have a easy-to-use machine that she can play with when I'm hogging my PC.

Hopefully, it'll work with the PS/2 keyboards and mice that I've got lying around, if not then I suppose that I'll be shelling out for USB ones but that's no great loss.

Mark my words: these babies are going to sell like hot cakes.

Re:No screen?

[entrager]

I should add that it's possible to have it play songs in a pre-set order, which you would define from within iTunes. You would just need to memorize the order.

Not as dumb as you think...

[moofdaddy]

There will be a lot of bitching about the new iPod not having a screen. However I say that apple has done it once again. You have to understand the market for the new iPod, it is not meant to hold your entire music folder, its not meant to go with you on long drives.

The new iPod is for the runners, for the people who take it with them to the gym, etc. These are people who wouldn't be navigating songs anyway, they just toss on a playlist, hit shuffle and go. This is exactly what the new ipod does, with only 200 songs, you don't really need to select your songs.

If you want a display, if you want to hold other stuff, this iPod isn't for you, get the other ones. If you just want to listen to music while you work out, then this is exactly what you want.

Re:Not as dumb as you think...

[prockcore]

Load Shuffle before bed, take a whole day's music (and much more) out the door in the morning. Always different. Freakin' genius. Once again, Apple changes how we manage our music.

Give me a break. Even Nike has a flash mp3 player that does shuffle. It even has an arm band, designed specifically for runners.

The iPod Shuffle is not innovative, or revolutionary. In fact, it's identical to the players already available by *shoe* companies.

Re:Not as dumb as you think...

[bware]

Give me a break. Even Nike has a flash mp3 player that does shuffle. It even has an arm band, designed specifically for runners.

Yeah, my gf just spent something like $250 getting one of those from Nike with a whole 256M of memory (and a pedometer). We spent an hour setting up the lousy (compared to iTunes) jukebox/download software.

She's boxing it up tonight to send back and placing her order for the Shuffle.

Re:Well....

[emilymildew]

Wait, you want the storage space of an iPod, and the features of an iPod, but not the price tag?

No wonder you were disappointed at this keynote. Why didn't they just provide THAT?

One solution to iPod Shuffle no screen

[Nom du Keyboard]

One solution to dealing with the iPod Shuffle's lack of a screen is build them small enough that they can only hold 2 songs. This way you only need an On/Off button and an Other Song button. And that will save case space as well.

No Spreadsheet?

[NardofDoom]

I'm suprised there's no spreadsheet app in iWork. I'd imagine that a lot of people need an Excel compatible spreadsheet.

Oh well, I guess I'm sticking with NeoOffice/J for a little while longer.

Re:No Spreadsheet?

[jmelloy]

Steve Jobs said it was coming "soon" ... must not've made the deadline.

We've slashdotted Apple!

[Altima(BoB)]

Judging the crawl at which the normally bulletproof Apple website is moving, it seems the allure of cheap Apple goodies is what it took to bring the weight of the internet to bear on one of the strongest servers out there.

Raise your glasses, this is a day to remember.

Re:ouch

[Ethelred Unraed]

Except that AAPL is actually zooming downwards at the moment. Something like -4% in less than an hour after the keynote ended.

My hunch is that it's because Apple just fired a big-ass shot across Microsoft's bow with iWork. We can likely say bye-bye to Office v.X for Mac, and with it quite possibly the Mac platform. (At least in my experience, the existence of Office for Mac was one of the few things that kept the platform alive for a very large number of users, both corporate and private.)

That's the only explanation I can think of at the moment. SJ just delivered an under-$500 Mac and an under-$200 iPod, so you'd think people would be going ape-shit.

Cheers,

Ethelred

Don't EAT iPod?

[Aetrix]

http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/ The caption under the "gum" picture reads, "iPod Shuffle: Smaller than a pack of gum and much more fun.(2)"

(2) "Do not eat iPod shuffle."

Evil Steve Jobs

[krbvroc1]

I can just see Evil Steve Jobs at the marketing table. He raises his pinky to the corner of his mouth and says, "I'll think I'll call it mini Mac".

Bhwahahaha.

http://www.macmerc.com/

[slapout]

http://www.macmerc.com blogged the thing live. I hope they don't made me posting it here.

01:59 PM - The speech is wrapping up. Please stay tuned to MacMerc for coverage. I'll be moblogging photos from the Apple booth in a few minutes. And if you haven't already, please PayPal us a buck or two (button left column). Thanks!

01:54 PM - Shipping starting today. Accessories rolling out in the next four weeks.

01:54 PM - 2 models: 512MB for $99 and 1GB for $149.99.

01:53 PM - Autofill: button in iTunes to make a playlist sized for the iPod shuffle. You can also manually fill it. You can also use the iPod Shuffle as a USB flash drive (choose how much for songs how much for data).

01:50 PM - iPod Shuffle: really tiny (smaller than most packs of gum), no screen, weighs under 1 ounce. Cap on the bottom, USB 2. 12 hour rechargeable battery. PC/Mac. Looks about the size of a flash key drive.

01:46 PM - There is one more thing: iPod marketshare is 65% over double last year. But Apple is going after the remaining flash player market.

01:45 PM - Motorola: iTunes client on Motorola phones. Showing Motorola e398. Phones shipping this spring.

01:43 PM - iPods on cars: BMW, Mercedes, Nissan, Volvo, Scion.

01:40 PM - We have the iPod and the iPod mini (something else coming???). Holiday 2004 quarter iPod sales: 4.5 million vs. 730K a year ago. Cross 10 million iPods sold, 8 million in 2004.

01:39 PM - Moving onto iPod...

01:37 PM - iTMS sold 230 million songs so far. On pace for 1.25 billion.

01:36 PM - Mac mini is in stores January 22nd.

01:34 PM - The Mac mini fits in the palm of your hand. Hook it into your own keyboard and mouse, or Apple's. Comes with Panther and iLife 05. Price point:$499 $599.

01:34 PM - The Mac mini looks like a 3" tall CD drive. A short cube. All the connections, DVI and VGA.

01:33 PM - Introducing the Mac mini -- ThinkSecret was right!

01:32 PM - "Why doesn't Apple provide a stripped down lower cost Mac?"

01:32 PM - iWork available January 22 for $79

01:27 PM - Phil is out to do a demo of Pages. Start with a blank page or a template. Import photos in pages through iPhoto library (iLife is integrated). Designed by the Keynote team. Word processing with a sense of style.

01:21 PM - iWork announced, to replace AppleWorks. Built from the ground up for OS X. Includes major update to Keynote: 10 new themes, animated text, powerful animated builds, presenter display, interactive slideshows, self playing kiosk slideshows.
PagesOther part of iWork, advanced word processor. 40 Apple designed templates.

01:21 PM - iLife 2005 will be priced at $79. Goes on sale a week from this Friday. Free on all new Macs.

01:18 PM - Traffic update: about 100,000 pages an hour. Please donate if you have found this useful--the webhost enjoys being paid. (PayPal button sidebar left). Update: Thanks guys, keep em coming. We sprung for a dedicated server for our coverage.

01:15 PM - John Mayer is on stage showing the new GarageBand (he helped introduce the first version). Notes, "I didn't win any grammy's for playing the piano."

01:14 PM - GarageBand '05: Up to 8 track recording. Real time music notation (taken from Logic), pitch and timing fixing, recorded tracks now can act as loops, create loops, vocal transformer. Also a new Jampack (#4)

01:09 PM - iDVD '05: 15 new animated themes, OneStep DVD creation (video to DVD in one step), All DVD formats(+R/W).

01:05 PM - Spotted on stage, small metallic box with Apple logo...

01:04 PM - The president of Sony is on stage talking about HD. Steve is a fan of Sony's prosumer HD video camera (just $3499).

12:58 PM - iMovie 05: Faster, non destructive trimming, more transitions and effects, mpeg 4 video, Magic iMovie (auto movie). Biggest feature: HD.

12:45 PM - iPhoto '05: Better searching, More formats, far more powerful editing, more book designs, better organization (folders, c

Small Form Factor PCs?

[Mad_Rain]

I was thinking about getting a little Small-form factor box to run something like MythTv, something along the lines of a AMD64. But checking out the Mac mini just makes me wonder about how I could get that going. Anyone think that this box could be a useful solution to that kind of project? I think the fairly standardized hardware would make that pretty simple to do, but being a non-mac person, I have no idea.

And damn - just in time to consider when upgrading my parents old machines. ;)

Re:Small Form Factor PCs?

[Johnathon_Dough]

Not free, but elgato software makes the eyeTV for macs

EyeTV is a feature-rich digital TV recorder with realtime MPEG-2 video encoding that allows you to watch, record and edit your favorite TV shows and movies directly on your Mac. Automatically schedule when to record shows, edit out the unwanted content, and then burn your recording to DVD. You can even pause and replay live TV, letting you watch what you want, when you want it. The combination of EyeTV and an Electronic Program Guide means you'll never miss a show.

I have not actually tried it myself, but apparently it has/will soon have HD support as well.

Re:Small Form Factor PCs?

[Anonymous Coward]

Another thing to note. A DIN slot (car radio standard size) is 2"x7", the mini mac is 2"x6.5".

If it had a radio faceplate and a laptop drive, this would be the best car stereo ever.

Re:Small Form Factor PCs?

[WaKall]

MythFrontend is already a first-class Mac application. You could set your minimac to autologin a user, start MythFrontend at login automatically for that user, and now you just need some form of remote control.

You'll still need a MythBackend around, with the TV capture card in it and running Linux. AFAIK, Myth recording is still Linux-only.

Myth Frontend for OSX is really slick. I run it on my G5 and it just usurps the position of wallpaper while I have AIM windows on top of it.

MOD PARENT UP

[TheRaven64]

Idiot moderators don't know irony when they see it. The parent poster is paraphrasing CmdrTaco's comment on the launch of the iPod:

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

best warning ever

[musikit]

"2. Do not eat iPod shuffle."

Say hello to *real* "Media Center" Machine

[danigiri]

(1) add a RAM stick BTO - cheapo
(2) add bluetooth BTO - cheapo
(3) add Wifi card BTO - cheapo
(4) sit unobtrusively to my way-cool existing TV and hook up A/V - nothin'
(5) hook to already existing wifi ADSL-powered network - nothin'
(6) bring in my already existing Sony-Ericsson Z600 - nothin'
(7) ...?
(8) Profit!

Lemme see what I get from this:

(A) iTunes playback
(B) VLC playback
(C) DVD playback
(D) UNIX development
(E) Surf web
(F) Check mail
(7) Photo slideshow
(8) Remote control via Z600 (see 2,6,A,B,C,E)
All in the living room sitting comfortably on the sofa (see D)! Yay!

Re:Pages?

[EvilFrog]

The "i" in "iMac" originally stood for "internet," but has since become a designation of Apple's consumer products. None of Apple's product geared towards the professional market have "i" in the name.

Consumer Mac: iMac
Professional Mac: PowerMac

Consumer Laptop: iBook
Professional Laptop: Powerbook

Consumer Video Editing: iMovie
Professional Video Editing: Final Cut Pro

You get the point.

What I find especially interesting is the release of a new consumer product (the Mac Mini) without "i" in the name. This may be a sign that Apple has decided to start moving away from the "i" naming scheme.

Of course, there's still iWork, which includes the aforementioned Pages. I'm guessing that iWork (which includes Pages and Keynote) is a predecessor to a larger professional suite we'll see in the future. That way when they start pushing Pages as a professional word processor it won't be stuck with the consumer name.

Do NOT Taunt iPod Shuffle

[SPYvSPY]

* Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly and children under 10 should avoid prolonged exposure to iPod Shuffle.

* Caution: iPod Shuffle may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.

* iPod Shuffle contains a liquid core, which, if exposed due to rupture, should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.

* Do not use iPod Shuffle on concrete.

Discontinue use of iPod Shuffle if any of the following occurs:

* Itching

* Vertigo

* Dizziness

* Tingling in extremities

* Loss of balance or coordination

* Slurred speech

* Temporary blindness

* Profuse sweating

* Heart palpitations

If iPod Shuffle begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head.

iPod Shuffle may stick to certain types of skin.

When not in use, iPod Shuffle should be returned to its special container and kept under refrigeration...

Failure to do so relieves the makers of iPod Shuffle, Apple Computer Corp. and its iCEO Steven P. Jobs, of any and all liability.

Ingredients of iPod Shuffle include an unknown glowing substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.

iPod Shuffle has been shipped to our troops in Saudi Arabia and is also being dropped by our warplanes on Iraq.

Do not taunt iPod Shuffle.

iPod Shuffle comes with a lifetime guarantee.

iPod Shuffle

ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES!

Re:Yes, but...

[soullessbastard]

Disclaimer: I am a developer for Mac OS X OpenOffice.org and a founder of the NeoOffice project.

Just the fact that you can import and export doesn't exactly mean it's 100% compatible. Heck, even Office v.X/2004 isn't 100% compatible with Windows Office generated files. One of the strengths of OpenOffice.org and NeoOffice is the accuracy of their import and export filters.

I wouldn't suspect Pages would be successful converting Word documents that have embedded Excel spreadsheets and charts those that go trapesing off to do database queries with macros. I suspect Pages would convert them to tatters.

While Pages may be sufficient for doing the basics of letter writing and entry-level document preparation, many of the more complex business level documents still will require Microsoft Office or an equivalent alternative. Office may be bloatware, but that doesn't prevent people from finding a way to use all of those features and then complaining when they don't work in another product. That makes true document compatibility a difficult task that can't fully be addrsesed by a word processing application alone.

ed

Re:$499 Mac? Damn

[spencerogden]

After selling 10 million iPods (jesus christmas!) I don't think they are moving away from hardware.

What I see more focus on hardware design, the exact opposite of the clone fiasco. They are getting, and supporting, higher margins on their hardware because of their design engineering. No other MP3 player looks or feels as good as the iPod. The Mini looks looks like another homerun, their first small form factor PC and its uniquely Apple and great looking.

Apple's focus has shifted to perfecting the Human-Computer interface. This is what it was all about originally. They are focusing on the look and feel of products, both hardware and software.

Get the details right, and they will come.

Proof of the iPod dominance in the marketplace

[amichalo]

An interesting note from MacWorld is something Jobs said about the iPod Mini.

Before the iPod Mini was released, the flash player market was double what it is today. That means the iPod Mini did NOT canibalize hard drive player/iPod sales but instead got Flash player buyers to spend more money on buying a Mini and claimed the upper end of the Flash Player market.

This means the iPod Shuffle is being sent in to sweep up the low end market where people are buying $49 128 MB players.

Re:Yes, but...

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

Want to share your documents online? Please, for crying out loud, write your documents in HTML and make them actually work on the web instead of uploading a bunch of junk in binary file formats.

I think you are mistaking the point. If you want to share your documents online, in general PDF is a great format. For example, if you want to distribute a newsletter via e-mail, PDF is a good way to go. If you want to send out marketing info, PDF is a good way to go. It is standard, exact, and a single file. Doc is not standard, and may or may not be readable on your platform, and implies to people that they need to buy products from MS. Doc files also are extra large and may include way too much information about what is on your hard-drive. HTML is great for hosting a file for the Web (note this is not the same as the internet, it is a subset), but it is a crappy way to e-mail things, and is not easy to print. If you have any images, or multiple pages, you end up with a slew of files for a single document.

In any case, Pages supports export to PDF and HTML so if a person was planning on hosting something as a web page, it should not be hard to make an HTML version. I get a little upset whenever I see the bad reputation PDF has. Every time I open one on a Windows machine, I remember why this is the case. It is because Acrobat reader is a dog-slow piece of crap, that will bring a Windows box to a crawl while trying to load and scroll. On OS X PDFs are great, and finding one in a web page is not annoying. They download in the background, scroll just fine, and do not make your machine go catatonic for 10 minutes while all you want to do is read a few pages.

One reason for no screen on iPod Shuffle

[saddino]

As Jobs noted, the iPod Mini took a nice chunk out of the Flash MP3 player market and thus the Shuffle is meant to take the remainder (low end). However, if the Shuffle were to have a screen (and thus be fully functional) it would almost certainly eat into Mini sales. Thus, the lack of screen is not only a design (elegant) and engineering (fewer parts) triumph, but also a marketing coup (increase marketshare without cannabalizing sales). Impressive.

iWant iWant iWant!

[Yaztromo]

It's all so beautiful...[sniff].

Okay, the new Mac Mini is going to be perfect for my mother. It's certainly going onto the "iWant List".

iLife 05 and iWork I'm going to put on order today (if I can get through to the Apple Store -- that's for /.'ing Apple everyone ;) ).

Damn. I had prepared myself this morning to find out that maybe one of the rumours was true, but all of the major rumours turned out to be true. Joy oh joy! It's like having another Christmas all over again :).

Please allow me to point one last thing out: to all of those here (and elsewhere) who complained that Macs were too expensive, it's now time to put up or shut up. Buy the new Mac Mini, or never speak of the purported high cost of Apple hardware again.

Yaz.

All Macs Come with an OS

[Dragonfly]

So yes, $499 includes the latest version of Mac OS X.

As a side note, all Apple servers include a copy of OS X Server UNLIMITED Client. Factor that in every time you compare a Windows Server to an XServe!

not $500, $575 -- remember the ram

[Heisenbug]

OK, all you folks who are about to get your first Mac -- yes, do it, it's worth it. But listen, OS X just won't be happy with 256MB of RAM. Throw in another $75 and get 512.

Apple loves overcharging for ram. I don't know why, and it bugs me, so normally I upgrade from a third party right after I get a new computer. That isn't an option here, so just bite the bullet and do it. Otherwise, we're all going to be back here in a month complaining about how slow the mini is, and no one wants that.

Re:not $500, $575 -- remember the ram

[kuwan]

Yep

Here's the WoW system requirements:

Mac® System OS X 10.3.5 OS:
933 MHz or higher G4 or G5 processor
512 MB RAM or higher; DDR RAM recommended
ATI or NVIDIA video hardware with 32 MB VRAM or more
4 GB or more of available hard drive space
MacOS X 10.3.5 or newer
56k or higher modem with an Internet connection

Since the cheapest Mac Mini has a 1.25 GHz processor and ATI Radeon 9200 with 32MB of VRAM then you should be set. Though since it only comes with 256 MB of RAM you'll probably need to upgrade to 512 MB, but you were going to do that anyway, right? Actually, you were going to max it out at 1 GB of RAM, right? ;)
--
It works.
Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo

Re:Has to be said....

[wildwood]

the flash-based iPod is cool but damn it sure does look like a tampon.

Hmmm...

Tweak the form a little bit, add a "vibrate" function... hello, dildonics!

"Can you feel the bass, baby?"

No

[Rew190]

The Mac Mini is aimed clearly at PC users looking to switch, but featurewise it is a disappointment.

It has OS X and is an affordable Apple computer. That is all it needs to succeed in the market Apple is shooting for.

Hats off to Cringely

[HishamMuhammad]

Well, so the rumors in Bob Cringely's Predictions for 2005 were confirmed... From his article:

3) Apple will take a big risk in 2005. This could be in the form of a major acquisition. With almost $6 billion in cash, Steve Jobs hinted to a group of employees not long ago that he might want to buy something big, though I am at a loss right now for what that might be. Or Apple might decide to throw some of that cash into the box along with new computers by deliberately losing some money on each unit in order to buy market share.

We might see that as early as next week with the rumored introduction of an el-cheapo Mac without a display. The price for that box is supposed to be $499, which would give customers a box with processor, disk, memory, and OS into which you plug your current display, keyboard, and mouse. Given that this sounds a lot like AMD's new Personal Internet Communicator, which will sell for $185, there is probably plenty of profit left for Apple in a $499 price. But what if they priced it at $399 or even $349? Now make it $249, where I calculate they'd be losing $100 per unit. At $100 per unit, how many little Macs could they sell if Jobs is willing to spend $1 billion? TEN MILLION and Apple suddenly becomes the world's number one PC company. Think of it as a non-mobile iPod with computing capability. Think of the music sales it could spawn. Think of the iPod sales it would hurt (zero, because of the lack of mobility). Think of the more expensive Mac sales it would hurt (zero, because a Mac loyalist would only be interested in using this box as an EXTRA computer they would otherwise not have bought). Think of the extra application sales it would generate and especially the OS upgrade sales, which alone could pay back that $100. Think of the impact it would have on Windows sales (minus 10 million units). And if it doesn't work, Steve will still have $5 billion in cash with no measurable negative impact on the company. I think he'll do it.

So, $249 was a bit of wishful thinking in Bob's part... ;)

Re:Yes, but...

[Elwood P Dowd]

While Pages may be sufficient for doing the basics of letter writing and entry-level document preparation, many of the more complex business level documents still will require Microsoft Office or an equivalent alternative.

And while Microsoft Office might be sufficient for doing the basics of memo writing and entry-level document preparation, many of the more complex prepress documents still will require Pages or an equivalent alternative.

Look at Apple's screenies for Pages, and tell me that you'd want to try and use MS Word to create those documents. I'd rather have a hole in my head. Pages' layout features look as if they surpass Word like Keynote surpasses PowerPoint. Yes, if you need an embedded Excel spreadsheet, you'll need Office. But you might already have MS Office, and still need Pages.

Mac Mini Mod

[lsmeg]

OK, so how long till someone mods the Mac Mini to fit in one or two PC drive bays? :) Maybe route the usb through to the PC's usb headers, a custom bracket in the back of the PC for DVI... Hmm, that could actually work...

A number of points you miss:

[SuperKendall]

All of the points you got wrong are related to who is going to buy this in droves - people have have PC's who like iPods and are tired of the PC world.

In that world, the computer might be a little old - and slowed further by virus/spyware that have crept in. This computer will seem like a rocket.

Plus of course it's like 1/10 the size of a clunky Dell box, a plus for anyone.

The firewire port is also not a "slight win" for anyone that likes to play with video, which is all parents in the US.

It's a box for people that want to buy a computer without having to worry about a computer. It's for people who like iPods and wonder what else Apple can do. Shortly it may well be anyone looking for a high-end DVD player and PVR. It's basically a computer for anyone that has not got a PC yet, or wants something different - dare I say a PC for the rest of us?

Re:Where's the Power Supply?

[Oktober Sunset]

http://www.apple.com/hardware/gallery/mac_mini_pc_ jan2005_480.html spin it round and you can see the power supply behind it.

Re:The one mouse button

[jfw25]

Because the Firefox developers followed the Mac user interface guidelines on the Mac version, when you click a link in Firefox with a one-button mouse, it performs the action most commonly expected -- open the page in the current tab. If you click AND HOLD, or if you press the control key, it brings up a contextual menu which offers you a wealth of other choices (new window, new tab, download, bookmark, ...).

Many people find the hold-down-one-button paradigm to be easier to learn and use than multiple buttons. Other people find having multiple buttons easier to learn than multiple actions with the same button. Curse Apple for trying to make their computers useful to both kinds of users!

The Real Birth of Automobile Computing

[jmenon]

"Another thing to note. A DIN slot (car radio standard size) is 2"x7", the mini mac is 2"x6.5"."

Combine that with the integration of the iPod with additional car models--Volvo, Nissan, and Mercedes Benz were mentioned today--and you reach an inescapable conclusion: Apple is set to blow away the market for in-car computing.

I was just in a taxi the other day here in Como, Italy, where I live, and the driver had a brand new navigation computer, complete with TV and DVD capabilities. Of course, car navigation computers are not new in Europe, providing GPS and all kinds of other in-car services. I have a friend living in Switzerland who had to drive to Luxembourg for work once a week, and he is so dependent on his in-car navigation system that once when it crashed, he couldn't find his way back home.

Think about it. It would take Apple only a baby step or two with the new Mac Mini to completely take over this market. Installing a car navigation system can cost you thousands of dollars, but Apple's core component would only cost you $499.

Imagine not only being able to plan a trip, but to have your kids do it on your desktop Mac, and then beam the instructions through AirPort to your car in the driveway. Car media centre? No problem, with a Bluetooth keyboard and a screen attached to your stereo slot. Or what about a snap-on interface connected to the USB and video-out ports on the back of the Mac Mini? But the greatest potential lies in the business uses of a car that is fitted as a fully-capable mobile office for less than a thousand bucks: the term "working remotely" takes on a whole new meaning.

Now you can be serious about taking your work to the beach.

keynote 2 is a *real* improvement

[wdebruij]

with more than 2100 posts already chances are noone is going to read this. Who cares, I'll just listen to myself then.

The presentation app, keynote, appears to be a godsend. It has a number of features that I always wanted (but was too lazy to code):

- a dual-monitor setup so that you can have a presentation on the beamer and an overview on your laptop. Do modern laptops carry dual-out, by the way?

- a timer to go with your overview page. The days that I have skipped content just to fit the deadline are nearly over. Finally.

however, there is one feature that I'm still missing. This one is especially useful for technical design, etc: construct individual slides from `master' images that are possibly larger than the slides. In a CAD environment it means flying into a detail of your design.

In general this technique should lead to a more natural progression from slide to slide. Perhaps it can be generalized even. I'm thinking along the lines of first creating a story and only afterwards chopping it up into bytesize chunks. The aforementioned design-issue is just an example. Read "presenting to win" by Weissman (yeah, horrible title) for more useful comments on holding presentations.