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The Odds at Macworld
Moby Cock writes "Jason O'Grady has posted the odds on what is to be announced at the Macworld Expo beginning next week. Coming in at 100:1 is OS X 10.5 and even money on a new and sexy Intel Mac Minis and iBooks. Gentlemen, start your credit cards."
I'm hoping X86 Powerbooks. But we'll have to wait and see I guess. Intel VIIV looks promising.
If this guy is there, I would say the "odds" are well represented.
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
OK, pal, sure.
I predict no 10.5, no Intel machines releases, nothing major. Just a bumped Mini.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Apple will announce the release of a 3 button mouse after they realized what a hit they had with their 2 button model...
--- I never lie when I have sand in my shoes.
You can always tell which rumors are true by the rapid-fire Apple lawsuits to the websites responsible.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
I have no problem paying $.99 for a song, but i will pay no more. This happens and I will be looking other places for my music for my iPod. They have to pay none of the traditional distribution costs of CD's, so they shouldn't even be the price they are now. you want to be greedy, i'll look elsewhere.
I have a colleague which likes almost everything coming from Apple.
In the last time I have the impression that he is working, here in our company, for nothing.
I told him, that would be much easier, to talk with the payroll, so that they send his salary directly to Apple.
Where the hell are the odds for overblown hype?
Oh, man, that's gotta hurt the Mac zealots even more than the switch to intel. Apple hiring *PC laptop designers* to build the next Powerbook.
1. Improved video iPod with larger horizontal screen
2. More tie-ins with TV producers
My blog
O'Grady writes :"Hopefully it'll be the PowerBook nano I've been dreaming of. Unfortunately, it's not likely as the pro software (Final Cut, Creative Suite, etc.) isn't universal binary yet. Rosetta emulation isn't fun folks. Odds: 50-1."
So, basically, he's saying that because a certain segment of the userbase will be waiting a little while, EVERYONE should wait?
If Apple doesn't ship Intel Powerbooks now, these users are going to be waiting, because they certainly aren't going to buy G4 powerbooks unless they absolutely have to. If Apple does ship Intel Powerbooks now, these users are going to be waiting for their apps to be shipped as Universal binaries.
So, given that these customers are ogoing to be waiting either way, why shouldn't Apple get hardware on the market to serve the customers who *can* buy now? Customers for whom XCode is their main app, not Photoshop or Final Cut.
September 2011: Looking for Cocoa/iOS work in Boston area Cocoa Programmer Quincy, MA
Odds that Steve Jobs won't wear black:
999999999-1
smattawichu
10. OS 10.5 - not gonna happen. Apple is focused on Rosetta/Xcode QA for Mac OS X86. Whatever works well gets ported to 10.5 (think of 10.4 as the beta for X86)
9. X86 Powerbook - Could be. I would bet on this one.
8. iWork '06 - Could be. Who cares? I really like iWork '05. Pages is a treat, and Keynote is indespensible for me. But if they are working on a spreadsheet, yeah, this is the time to release it.
7. iLive '06 - Unless it adds things similar to Front Row, I don't see that it needs anything more than bug fixes. I wouldn't bet on it.
6. BT remote - Definitely going to be some kind of Front Row remote. Bluetooth? Probably. All new Macs have it, for several months now.
5. iTunes price increases - Not gonna happen. Steve knows this market. The market will not ignore him, no matter how greedy they are. Too much money is being made.
4. AirPort Ultra - Neat idea, but I won't bet on it. I would buy one, though
3. 1GB iPod Nano - Don't think so. The shuffle fills this space, but that's not big enough for the Nano's market segment.
2. X86 Mac Mini - I'd bet on this. I might even buy one for my parents. Their old IBM suck ass.
1. Widescreen X86 iBook - This one is obviously going to happen, but probably not now. Apple will drop 4:3 format entirely, as will the rest of the world (showing they are, as always, technology leaders). They just won't cannibalize Powerbook sales with iBooks until they have milked it long enough.
There exists no way of exchanging information without making judgments. --Bene Gesserit Axiom
I'm sure they'll keep flogging the iPod cash cow; maybe an iPod portable DVD player?
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
As nice as it would be to see iLife '06, I think there will first be a universal version of iLife '05 and iWork '05. That way Apple can grow the market for paid upgrades to iLife '06.
Well, with the odds being so good, I plan on selling my G5 2.0. I have been waiting for this, as if the laptops are truly coming, I can quit using my ThinkPad for work.
I am excited, can't wait. This week is CES, next week Macs. Whoohoo!
Does this mean if I buy one I will get laid for certain?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Sakyamuni taught that primordial Ignorance (avidya) produces Desire-to-be (trishna), unsatisfied Desire is the cause of life, and life results in old age, disease and death, i.e., Suffering (dukkha). To overcome Suffering, therefore, it is necessary to escape the Cycle of life and death; to escape the Cycle of life and death, it is necessary to extinguish Desire; and to extinguish Desire, it is necessary to destroy Ignorance.
u rteen-fundamental-buddhist-tenets.htm
http://www.dharmafellowship.org/library/essays/fo
Curious how Jobs being buddhist, he is responsible for such slavering of desire (according to the above, amongst the 'ignorant') in the products he works to create. I wonder if he tries to reconcile this in some consumerist branch of Buddhism.
Attaining Great Awakening (maha-bodhi), the Buddha Sakyamuni realized four profound insights: namely, that all created phenomena are impermanent; that due to the mutable impermanence of phenomena, all created phenomena must result eventually only in suffering; that there is no independent absolute 'I'; and that the seeker of Truth can transcend created existence and attain, through spiritual practice and mystical contemplation, a supreme state of peace called Nirvana.
Hm it seems doubtful Apple products are actually the path to spiritual awakening.
1. The "Big Dance" link is broken on the ZDNet site. Here's what you want... (Macworld!)
2. Who's "Jason the Greek"? No dice on my initial search. Do I live in a cave? (You don't have to answer that.)
How to Download YouTube Videos
Isn't:
"Gentlemen, start you credit cards."
Meant to be:
"Gentlemen, start your credit cards."?
I'd bet a wad of cash that, assuming they're introduced at MacWorld, both the new Mac Mini and iBook will sport Intel Integrated graphics.
I know game performance isn't exactly up to snuff on the Mac but I certainly don't think such a move would help the matter.
Great user name for the submitter. I guess Dirty Sanchez was already taken? Way to get over on slashdot...
Just wanted to throw that into the mix. Useless info, with humor
/ /macworldexpo.com
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http:
Yes, a sexy new Intel based mac mini seems likely, but in light of that why are they only giving 10:1 odds on an iLife/Frontrow upgrade? It seems the new mini would be the perfect platform to add PVR functionality to, but with no upgrades/additions to iLife, it seems the new minis would move from a killer living room appliance to a minor curiousity...
Think outside the... Hey, where'd the friggin' box go?
How will we know?
Major and minor Mac news sites like Macintouch and MacNN always have someone in the audience blogging the Apple presentation in real time. Lately Apple's been blocking wi-fi connections during the presentation, but you still get the information immediately after it's over.
After 15 years of being scooped by the Windows world: a two button mouse STANDARD on every computer.
Apple will also add video support to the nano line via a firmware upgrade to boost sales of TV shows and video content
Has Apple ever given away software updates that adds functionality for free? What makes these guys think they would do that this time?
Great, I can't wait. The droning on of mac users about how "great" their system is, and how its "so much better" than Windows is what I look forward to.
I guess sales of aluminum polish and cleaning products will go up, and worldwide productivity down.
-Brett
Personally, I'm hoping for a BT Mighty Mouse.
He doesn't bring that up, or do most think it is so insignifigant, that it doesn't rate being mentioned.
Interesting speculation, but a lot of it just doesn't quite add up.
-The AirPort "Ultra" would "be able to stream video to your TV - in High Definition". Where is all this HD content coming from? Not from the iTMS, not from DVDs. Assuming this AirPort is running 802.11g, streaming HD content is iffy at best. Apple is known for making things easy. I don't see how this could possibly fly as a consumer product. Maybe in another year or two, with faster WiFi and more HD content.
-Jason reckons that the Intel PowerBooks won't be released because (despite all the engineering done) not all the pro software is written yet for Intel, and Rosetta emulation just isn't fun. But then his #1 prediction is for Intel iBooks? Doesn't make sense to me.
-Why are iLife & iWork updates so unlikely (10% and 4% odds, respectively)? Unless Apple is just willing to let this software die (unlikely given relations with Microsoft), this is practically a given. Maybe not until summer, but the odds of an announcement or mention are more likely on the order of 50% - 75%, IMO.
Sorry, I'm just not buying it. Guess I'll wait until next week to find out for sure.
And what do the women start?
Mac OS X 10.6 Liger.
Known for its skills in magic.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Since we're talking about former SONY engineers, the new laptops will also be riddled with even MORE DRM and a few rootkits thrown in for good measure.
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
Here's hoping that the new Mac Minis, whenever they arrive, have a few specific improvements:
1) Optical Audio (we want surround sound!)
2) Better DVD playback software (for a UI centered company like Apple, "DVD Player" program blows donkey wang)
3) RF receiver (for my kick ass universal remote, or maybe Apple can make a bluetooth+RF remote)
4) Better support for my TV (having to use VNC to set it up is beyond most people)
I've been using a Mac Mini as my entertainment hub for a while now (almost a year), and its great. DVDs, AVI and WM files, ITunes though my stereo, internet surfing on my HD TV, flash, movie previews, games; the list goes on and on. Its quiet, low power, wakes quickly, and does what I want it to do.
Oh, and can you guys please make it so I can autohide the menu bar? You know, like the dock can do.
I just dont think Apple is going to make a DVR to actually compete with Tivo. Let alone "defeat it in one fell swoop!!#!11111!!!".
Might they make DVR software for say, college kids and such? With a little dongle for cable input? Sure. But this would hardly make any waves in the DVR market.
We all know about the U2 branded iPod... you've drooled over the Harry Potter laser engraved iPod... 2006 brings you a new revolution in branding.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster iPod. This iPod includes a non-removable case for your iPod made out of durable foam latex. A respectable amount of "noodly appendages" keep the iPod off your desk and floating mysteriously in the air. This can be had for you and your loved ones for the price of... $599, $100 of which is donated directly to the beer volcano.
I don't buy the "hits" so the songs I'd purchase would probably come out cheaper than $.99.
That sound you hear in the background is thousands of executives worldwide laughing at your naiveté.
I think there will be a 10.5 that will address the core imaging problems in Aperture since they didn't address that much in the last Aperture update. That's my guess at least.
But it will be easier to setup than modding an old XBox which is the next best solution (unless your willing to pay Elagatos extortionate prices).
Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
The Simpsons go to Macworld??
http://macenstein.com/default/archives/149
It may be 6 months or 6 years until Apple makes a cell phone, but I know only that I want one and that I will buy it.
Sent from my iPhone
It can be said about a woman looking for a date at an engineering school or next Apple keynote: "The odds are good but the goods are odd."
#include <signature.h>
The one sure thing is that, whatever he announces at MacWorld, Steve Jobs will made it seem like the most amazing development in the history of computing, and the Apple Store site will be bogged down with orders.
Geoff
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. -- Pablo Picasso
Apple's productivity suite will get upgrades to Pages and Keynote with the possible addition of a modern Office-killing spreadsheet application (rumored to be called "Numbers" or "Sheets"). If it reads and writes Excel files the Apple spreadsheet will be the final nail is Microsoft Office's coffin. Microsoft will waste no time in announcing the end of support for Office for the Mac if this happens.
And then Apple can kiss all of its corporate sales goodbye. Nope, not gonna happen. Maybe a light-duty, somewhat-compatible spreadsheet for people to make little lists with, but Apple knows it will lose more in corporate hardware sales than it can ever make back with their little $99-a-pop suite.
Besides, if there's one thing we have learned, it's that 100% compatibility with MS Office file formats is impossible. Can OOo do it? Can Quark or InDesign perfectly import Word docs? Hell, do MS Office for Mac and Win perfectly read each others' files? No, no, and no.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Wich can only lead to the conclusion that all the real work is being done on OS/2.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
What I'd really like is a new follow-up to my iPod Mini. The shiny, sturdy aluminium case feels great and seems a lot less easy to damage than the white plastic ones you can currently get. But I wouldn't mind having the video capabilities and colour screen from the full-size iPod.
Oh well, I guess I'm stuck behind the times. At least my firewire dock cable still works.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Sounds like you would be fine with a PPC Mini. My advice would be to wait until the Macworld announcement when you might be able to get one for a drastically reduced price.
BTW, if you have 68000 classic apps, you may want to check out Basilisk II for OSX. This will probably become more popular in the near future. Remember that this won't help with PPC classic apps.
The last time I was at a Mac World was in the early 90s in Boston when I was a teen. I was supposed to be giving out free subscriptions to macworld magazine or something, but ended up mainly talking to Julie Strain and some other Penthouse Pets that were there promoting some Penthouse VCDs and the programmers of it. :)
;)
Some executive from Microsoft coming over and hanging out too. With the programmers, basically talking about some info John Carmack posted on Worldnet BBS about using Eigenvectors for color quantization of video to 256 colors. A great excuse to spend some time in their booth
When Carmack came up, of course so did Wolfenstein. I remember the MS guy talking about how it gave him motion sickness. LOL
I was suprised by the sheer amount of porn there. They had one porn booth that was enclosed in a curtain with the hardcore stuff. There were so many dudes in there, when you walked by, you could see their shapes presses against the curtains. Like in the movies when the ghouls start coming out of the wall.
Damn that's creepy. Last place I'm going to watch porn is pressed against 20 other dudes.
-William Shatner can be neither created nor destroyed.
I'd like to see them open up the .Mac XMLRPC schema so it'd be easier for users to roll their own .Mac.
Ah heck, lets just list a couple of things I'd like to see (which are completely unrelated to iLife):
Okay, I'm done... for now.
All editorial writers ever do is come down from the hill after the battle is over and shoot the wounded.
OS/2? VMS Please; or, even better: VOS! -Brett
They're going to polish up the Apple logo a little bit and call it a re-design.
[%] Cingular Ringtones
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/ 22933
cheers!
See, I know they can put a DVD-R in the 12 inch iBook, as you can ship it off to some other store and they'll upgrade it for you.. But apple REFUSES to put one in their most basic laptop model, even if you ask for an upgrade. (12 inch iBook) Its obviously a blatant push to get you to buy one of the moreexpensive systems.
Meh, I still think these computers are overpriced.
Sure, Tivo works great for time shifting. There are a few things that could be improved, and even if thier DVR was a minor incremental improvement on what is out there, I think that Apple has the expertice and mindshare to do well in the market.
However, there is also the possibility for another type of media device that would be signifcantly better than Tivo for some users - A device that let you rent/buy video over the internet, and watch them directly from the television. Being able to watch any movie/series at any time is far more convienient than what the cable company offers at the moment, even with Tivo. Furthermore, content producers/owners like don't particularly like how their distribution options are restricted to cable television monopolies. Time Warner said as much when they released their experimental online service.
Apple is the perfect company to do this. In order for it to be a good experiance, it will require an easy to use set-top device, and an online store with a large selection of content. They have proven themselves to be capable of producing top notch hardware and software, but even more importantly are capable of negotiating deals with media companies. Lastly, what with the video iPod and FrontRow, it definately looks like Apple has plans for video in their roadmap.
Forced to post anonymously again because slashdot and safari have not been getting along lately.
- jackson (uid pavon)
Quicken for Mac is awful.
I'm glad to know I'm not alone in this sentiment. I tried migrating from Quicken 2005 for Windows (running in VMWare) to Quicken for Mac 2006 and it was a disaster. Migration issues aside, when I managed to get enough imported to start using it, it crashed left and right. Intuit's "support" consisted of a painful java-based chat with some ESL monkey who was totally unhelpful...
Now I'm working on getting my money back and figuring out some other way to get my wife involved with the finances.
A host is a host from coast to coast...
Unless it's down, or slow, or fails to POST!
"Apple uses Intel. Apple has always used Intel. PowerPC sucks."
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Well considering that it wouldn't be Apple's choice to raise the prices...
Not true. They have to renegotiate the contract this year but Apple always has the option to walk away from a price hike at the cost of loosing that library of music.
Furthermore Apple holds the cards in bargaining, as while the music companies have the music it's not worth much if all people do is steal it. Apple has shown a store can work and is bringing in a lot of revenue for the various companies, you'd think they would think twice before backing out. And if all of the music companies back out there's probably an anti-trust suit to be had...
So if prices go up, I'm blaming Apple for buckling just when they are in a position to keep them where they are (or even lower them). If I were Jobs that's what I'd do, tell them if they want variable pricing how about lowering older songs to $0.50?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Apple will announce the release of a 3 button mouse after they realized what a hit they had with their 2 button model...
Actually the mightymouse only has one button and it looks and works just like the old single button mice. The trick is that depending on which finger you press down on the single button with you get a left or right click functionality and the trackball on top of it doubles as a third button. This is a typical Apple (aka. Steve Jobs) solution:
Fact #1: Official Apple policy is that a user only needs one mouse button.
Fact #2: Unfortunately experience has shown that it is better to have more mouse buttons.
Fact #3: Since we are talking aboute Apple (aka. Steve Jobs) it is not an option to back down on Fact #1.
Ergo: Design a mouse that has a single button that works like two buttons and has a trackball built in instead of a scroll-wheel giving 2d scrollingcapability. This has the dual effect of adding a little novelty to a new product and most importantly it enables Apple (aka. Steve Jobs) to save face by not having to back down on Fact #1.
It never ceases to amaze me how Apple continually seems to succeed in coming up with gadgets that sell like hotcakes but that really are only redesigns or recombinations of already existing ideas. Both the iPod and the Mighty Mouse really just combinine two old ideas into a new one. I have seen mice with builtin trackballs before but no design that was quite as elegant as the mightly mouse. Similarly the iPod is nothing new either, the inovation is really to marry an MP3 player with an obscene amount of storage space and package it in an elegant and ergonomically well designed package. Both these are, surprisingly enough, ideas that nobody had thought of even if they had been bloody obvious for years.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Along with a wider deployment of FrontRow (included in new iLife), a full HD Resolution Battlestar Galactica for sale the day after air (and all the back catalogue) would make for killer online TV sales.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
New iBooks and PowerBooks will continue to have a single button with a twist.
The new button will be capacitance sensing and be able to determine where your finger/thumb is clicking it. By default, it will function as a single button, but you can easliy set it to two or possibly three button mode via system preferences.
Remember, you heard it here first.
Check ThinkSecret- they're almost always right, and cite reliable sources (the same ones that leaked the iPod Photo and Mac Mini originally) that we'll have an Intel iBook and Mini.
Not that it matters much for a laptop, but that results in a "1.5"-button mouse, not a 2-button mouse. I work at Blizzard and we were mad at Apple when they released the Mighty Mouse because it is impossible to hit the left and right mouse buttons at the same time, an important feature in World of Warcraft.
Yes, it's a taco typo. And have a look at the later story on the CES Preview for more illiteracy my 8-year-old daughter would be ashamed of.
Oooh... what a witty troll. Congratulations on such an insightful post. Because, you know, nobody loses any time or productivity due to Windows virii, or the extensive mish-mash of security patches you have to apply, or having the registry get borked, or having their machine become a spam-producing zombie, not to mention that nobody ever has to do clean installs of Windows to clean out all that crap, and nobody's at risk because Windows executables run with equivalent of root privileges. I'm sure nobody's ever lost productivity because their network was taken over by SQLSlammer or other similar worm. And that anti-virus software you have to have on your Windows box, I'm sure, doesn't suck any processor cycles or make your system any less stable. You know, now that I've read your post, I think I'd better get rid of my Mac and start using Windows for the bulk of my work, because I'm obviously less productive than I should be. My god, why didn't I see it before?? Thank you so much!
:p
Hell, I go longer without rebooting my Mac than I go without having to reinstall Windows on my Dell. And, oh yeah, my Mac doesn't have solitaire or minesweeper on it, either, so if it weren't for Slashdot, I'd be extremely productive on my Mac.
Aluminum polish? Heh. Right. I'll do that right after I vacuum my keyboard and send my underwear out for dry-cleaning.
Related to a Macworld announcement somehow?
O'Grady is a tool. The odds of him getting any prediction right, based on his history at PowerPage and now this blog, are about 10,000,000,000:1
I'm sorry... but this one made me grin. I actually have a *true* story along these lines. I just started talking to a girl who answered a personals ad I put on Craigslist where I advertised that I was seeking a "geek girl" (if such a person really existed). I found out that among other things, she was a big fan of Apple products, and had just purchased a new Powerbook 15". This was a few weeks before OS X 10.4 "Tiger" was scheduled for official release. I managed to download a copy of the final release version of 10.4 from Usenet and burnt it to DVD, about a week before it was going to hit the stores. It served as the main excuse/reason for me to meet up with her in person at her house - and yes, I did end up getting laid that night!
So thanks Apple!
In the last time I have the impression that he is working, here in our company, for nothing.
I told him, that would be much easier, to talk with the payroll, so that they send his salary directly to Apple.
I could say the same thing about most of my colleagues and their expensive jeeps. There is no way I would ever get into that much debt because of a dispensable luxury like a car I only buy used ones and drive them until they fall apart out of fright when somebody honks at me at a traffic light. Now a (Apple) computer on the other hand, hmmmm... yes, that dispensable luxury I will endulge in because:
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Don't be surprised if this IBook is the first to ship without a FireWire port
Didn't the first couple generations of the old toilet seat iBooks ship without Firewire?
I know they shipped without VGA-out, which sucked.
--saint
Ahem.
engineers != designers.
Engineers are the ones coming up with the technical ways in which everything fits together and physically functions on the inside. You know, determining which hinge mechanisms are more likely to suffer breakage from lateral force or repeated use, etc.
Designers are the ones who decide what the whole deal looks like. Aesthetic and ergonomic design, useability, etc.
In short, designers would be the ones who drew a picture of what they wanted the iPod to look like. Engineers would be the ones who made it work. So, unless you're an Apple zealot who has had severely bad experiences with the physical quality of Sony's PCs, there's little to complain about here.
After developing Firewire on their own, and successfully making it a standard, Apple won't get rid of firewire, even on the iBook. My cousin wants an iBook because he can connect it with his camcorder and edit his skateboarding videos with the included software. Me, I have amassed several pieces of firewire hardware, including an Apple iSight, an external HD, and an old iPod.
Maybe to make the 'book thinner, they'll change the firewire connector so that it requires a dongle to get a standard firewire jack. But odds are, it will be there.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that the same OEM's that build PC laptops build Macs. Surprise, they use similar (if not identical) components with few exceptions. Their BOM cost would soar if they actually spec'd anything outside of high-volume parts.
Yes, they design a case but beyond the case they are using off the shelf stuff.
The lesson for today: Apple's totally committed to profits in a world with few choices.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
A mini sounds enticing price-wise. But the slow disk and that it's only a G4 keep my wallet in my pocket.
Thanks for the pointers to Basilisk II.
separate anti-virus &/or adware/spyware apps.
Apple branded Windows compatibility layer. iWin, youWin, TheyWin.
NeXT only had a two-button mouse (both the original, and the ADB version were only two-buttons).
h tml
http://www.channelu.com/Turbo/NeXT/mousekeysound.
Moreover, it configures by default that the right mouse button functionality (popping up the main menu) was disabled.
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
LOL! I've played WoW a lot since it came out, and never even knew this "important feature" existed. I've also never seen it mentioned online. Clicking both buttons at once is a terrible UI idea, I'm glad it hasn't caught on.
I'm guessing Apple will continue to do just fine with its mice. BTW, I'm switching to Mac for WoW this year. =)
Apple has never catered for the gaming market. Why should they do so now? Whatever 3D accelerator is going to be shipped with the upcoming Macs will be sufficient for the market Apple is targeting.
I just want 10.4 to stop crapping out as a Domain controller. We are rebooting our domain controller and file servers so often management is actually having me put together a proposal to migrate back to Linux. For those of you not in the Know, 10.4 server has a nasty bug that locks of the server when a particular sequence of events occur, usually during replication. (Which on an active Windows Domain happens every few minutes.) Apple has acknowledged the problem and a fix has been "any day now" ever since Tiger was released.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
ahh yes, but its just payback for Tim Schaaff
Was anyone else shocked by the prediciton at the bottom that Apple might be dropping Firewire? I mean, Firewire isn't that popular for general use, but the areas where it is used it is the only game in town, really. My Firewire 800 HD is wonderfully fast, the audio breakout boxes for recording multitrack, and 1394 support is built in to nearly every video camera. USB can do some of this stuff in a less consistent way, but Firewire is pretty much the professional connection, no? I would be quite sad if Apple gave it up.
Cheers.
The music industry is looking INSANELY greedy with this move. I hope Apple holds out and holds their feet to the fire.
The problem (from the music label perspective) with the iTMS (or any a-la-carte) distribution system is that it forces them to re-write their business model. Labels make money on *stars* and their fans through CDs, merch, concerts...
Under the tried-and-true model (pre-1996) the Bob pays $15-20 (album price) for 1-3 hit songs, and the label gives Bob the rest of the album for free, hoping to make Bob a fan, and the artist a star. Repeat, Profit! Under a-la-carte (iTMS), the Bob pays $2 for 2 hits, no fans, no stars. The labels are hoping to get back to the way things were, by charging Bob a premium for the hits, a discount for the other songs and the same price for the album. They still want to make Bob a fan and the artist a star.
Maybe its time to adapt strategies?
Diversify, volume, profit!
Beauty is truly in the eye of the tiger
How is it this stupid rumor persists? I've been using the built-in contextual menus and other right-click functions in the Mac OS with a two-button mouse since Mac OS 8. The Mac OS has had built-in uses for multi-button for as long as I've used it, which is about fourteen years ... even before scrollwheels were invented.
Mac OS X was a lovely improvement to the Mac universe, but two-button mice have been supported since long before then.
I stole this sig from someone cleverer than me.
If you go to Apple's website now, on the home page you'll see ads for the NEW Power Mac G5, the NEW iMac G5 and the NEW PowerBooks.
I think that Apple is advertising these as NEW so that people buy them NOW. Apple certainly doesn't want to mislead and encourage clients into buying something to be obsolete with an announcement at MacWorld and be left with this awful feeling of being stupid and helpless.
The only Apple hardware not advertised as new on Apple's site is the Mac Minis and the iBooks.
It is obvious to me that these will be the creatures to be given a new X86 heart...
A hungry bear does not dance!
Don't be surprised if this IBook is the first to ship without a FireWire port.
Which instantly eliminates one of the big USPs of the whole iLife suite - that you can import, edit and burn your own movies. Without Firewire, how are you supposed to get the data off your digital camcorder? (Do many camcorders support USB 2.0 yet?) And what about all those people (like me) who have their data backed up on Firewire external drives? What are they supposed to do, transfer it on Zip discs when they upgrade?
Hell, Apple invented Firewire, so it's not like they have to pay a per-unit royalty to have one somewhere on the machine.
You must think in Russian.
I think it's very likely that at least an overview of some of the features planned for 10.5 will be seen. With Gates taking center stage at CES in order to tout Vista, it's hard to imagine Jobs passing on the opportunity to trump Microsoft's presentation of their new crown jewel. And the fact that the 10.5 (Leopard) release date is planned to roughly coincide with the release of Vista isn't exactly mere coincidence.
And with a relatively tepid entry into the video market via iTunes so far, I'm looking for a major, and I mean major, upgrade to Apple's iDisk technology, which is a pretty unique feature of OS X. If some of the recent rumors are correct regarding plans to stream full-length movies from a users iDisk, Apple could have a pretty unique answer for serving on-demand movies on the web, including solving bandwidth constraint issues (no need to download the movie) and DRM for the nervous movie studio execs.
Right now, downloading a full-length movie would take hours, even on a fast cable connection, which most consumers don't have. Asking the average consumer to wait hours before they can start watching a movie just isn't going to fly, not as a realistic alternative to your friendly neighborhood DVD rental outfit. High quality movies via iDisk that are uploaded by Apple to a users iDisk on demand ready to be streamed to the user could take away the present advantage of the neighborhood DVD rental store.
And currently, iDisk is tightly integrated into OS X which opens up many possibilities, and there hasn't been much of anything in the way of major improvements in iDisk for some time now. So it's possible that, on Monday January 9th, sleeping beauty awakes.
Regarding the predictions, the author's assumption that the introduction of a spreadsheet program to iWork would eventually cause MS to close shop on Office for the Mac is just absurd. iWork, like it's predecessor Appleworks, has always positioned itself as an easy to learn and use, consumer friendly application. It's not intended to be, nor designed to be, a professional solution, whereas Office is. And unlike Microsoft's Window's division, the Mac business unit hasn't been asleep for the last several years; they've been churning out regular updates to Mac Office that are regarded by many to surpass the Window's version of Office. Jobs has regularly praised the Mac version of Office and complimenting Microsoft's Office team for the Mac. Now if Office became something like the Mac version of Explorer, dying on the software development vine, then we would see Apple making it's move, as it did with Safari. But right now, with Office for the Mac more than healthy, it aint gonna happen.
"I brake for ultra-thin laptops"
An awesome picture of the crowd in 2004. More pictures.
Of course, Quicken for Mac doesn't work there either. It tells me my account "isn't ready", when the PC version's been accessing the same account for years. I also tried to import all of my old PC transactions into it and it just stops. No errors, no messages, no imported data. Nothing.
Which is pretty much what it's worth...
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
The thinking apparently is that business software vendors need more time to port their stuff to Apple X86, but that Apple's own X86 consumer Mac software is ready to go.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
There is no lossless audio format around. CDs are only sampled at 16 bit resolution.
I suspect AAC files can actually do better than that if given enough bandwidth.
I'd rather they finish iWork. So far, it has a word processor and a presentation app. The obvious thing it's missing is a spreadsheet. Normally, I don't care for spreadsheets, but this is the system (back when it was called NeXTstep) that had the most innovative spreadsheet I've ever seen: Lotus Improv.
In Improv, instead of having an arbitrary 2d array of cells, which can have either numbers of formulas, you enter raw data -- in any number of dimensions. Then you can make graphs, by referring to them by a title, not junk like "A2:D43". You can also enter equations (like "F=m*a")for generating more data -- and then when you ask for a dataset (in a graph or report), it automatically uses the formulas you've entered to solve for what you want.
Needless to say, it was 10 years ahead of everything else at what it did, but people really only wanted Excel to make lists, so Improv tanked in the marketplace. But Mac users who just want to make lists use OmniOutliner (which beats the pants of Excel at simple things), so maybe Improv stands a chance.
That is because Macworld Expo is run by IDG, not Apple.
Everyone is forgetting the option that Apple could sell both x86 and PowerPC PowerBooks at the same time, like what they've done in the past.
If iTunes store songs are indeed made from CD versions, that's a relevant argument. But Apple claims that they're produced from the original masters.
If so, it's not really a question of lossiness, but if whether the CD encoding or the AAC encoding sounds better.
I know an insider at Apple, and a new Mac is going to be released (seriously). I believe it's going to be between the Mini and the G5 horsepower wise.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
-1 Troll ? Fucking Macboys got no sense of humour !
No but, yeah but, no but...
Uh, perhaps it would run the same version of 10.4 that the current Intel mac developer machines run? Y'know, the one that's based on the version of osx that's been kept ported to x86 since the product was first released five years ago?
Your post is long on confidence, but short on support for your very strange assertions.
The one you forgot is the one I think we will see that will change things as we know it. A flash based ibook. Why else would apple be going around buying all the flash memory and securing deals for several years out? Simple, just as they got rid of the floppy, the hard drive is now going to be phased out. Apple did the smart thing and got its contracts in order now because once Apple releases this thing every manufacturer is going to be knocking on Samsung, Micron, Intel's doors for it.
Me personally, I can't wait to have my 10 hour battery life ibook that turns on in a snap!
NT
This space for rent.
Not only is it giving in to corporatism as well as using technology this advanced for primitive means, but every fucking yuppie I know has an ipod
Women- the final frontier...
Tivo right now, works perfect.
I disagree. TiVo works well in comparison to competitors, but it has a clunky UI, a remote control which is easy to accidentally use upside-down and has way too many buttons for way too few functions (and yet still requires too many clicks and screen loads to get from "Now Playing" to watching your chosen program).
E.g. if you have four episodes of a program and choose to pick one, by default you have to click twice (and load two screens) to start watching that program (you can bypass one of the screens by pressing a different button -- but it's not the most likely button you'll use). If you discover you've picked the wrong episode and click the TiVo button you get dropped back at the BOTTOM level of the menu.
TiVo has been around for six years, and has had the iPod to imitate (and not only does the iPod have a cleaner UI with fewer buttons -- it's far more responsive). If it's UI is still this clunky with all this time and testing, then its product team simply doesn't get it and never will.
This guy is out of his mind. A dreamer, really. Some of these things may come to pass, but he's really a terrible reporter!
Just look at some of those predictions. Very unlike Apple. I highly doubt Apple will start branching their software off into consumer versions of their new office suite or add too much to iLife 06. He's gone absolutely nuts with the iTunes Music Store bit. Looks to me like he simply reads Slashdot headlines and concocts little stories about them.
It also seems he's one of the people who stirred up those ridiculous alligations that Apple would be dropping FireWire from its consumer products--something that makes no sense considering all of the work Apple has put into the music, video and photography fields. (FireWire audio interfaces, DV cameras, and professional grade digital cameras)
So yeah, take these predictions with a grain of salt.
streaming hdtv, what about the bandwidth? hd? "right".
Yea, I've played WoW with the mighty mouse... the "important feature" allows you to move forward and I just have to rely on using the "W" key. No big loss. I do very rarely use both mouse buttons for forward movement (on a Logitech mouse) but it's just when I'm switching things around and get mobbed.
I've also played more than a few hours of WoW on the PB one button trackpad and I don't think that I'd really mind if they made it impossible to press more than one button at the same time.
If Blizzard wants to make it so that mighty mouse users can use this "important feature", make it so that middle clicking does something... perhaps moving forward maybe?
$2B/$12B gross - so what was the artists net?
"In 2003, US gross numbers for live music totalled $2 billion. That same year, recorded music grossed $12 billion."
I suspect that the artists saw more from the live music, and a heck of a lot less from the recorded music, with the money largely going to the middlemen, like Clear Channel, which owns ~9% (~1200 out of ~13,000 stations). The only thing that really matters to the artist is "mall money", and gross receipts don't tell anywhere near the whole story.
-- Terry