Apple's absence from Macworld

What do you think of Apple not participating in Macworld anymore? It's so hard for me to thing of Macworld continuing when Apple doesn't participate. My first thought was what a lot of others were saying - Macworld is dead. Honestly Apple doesn't need Macworld anymore in my opinion. With the developers conference and all the special events, why do they have to present something at Macworld anymore? And I also think that having to do something every January doesn't always mesh with the product cycles, so it actually makes sense to me.

But I'm a Mac-head! It's hard for me to see the demise of the Macworld Expo! What's your take?

New Mac Mini?

Rumor has it that Apple will refresh its much ballyhooed Mac Mini at Macworld:

Mac Mini Refresh

Will this be a major announcement? Will it be a game changer? I think Apple does have an opportunity to hit the Mac Mini out of the park! What do you think would make it a huge winner?

Amazon MP3 Download service a distant second!

It surprised me that the Amazon download service has not picked up a big head of steam:

Amazon Download

When I shop at Amazon, it is incredibly convenient to download the MP3 tracks they offer, and if you have an Amazon account I think it is laughably simple! It seems like a really good service, so I'm happy that iTunes is still top dog. Apple does have a nice position in that if you use their iTunes software for organizing music, it is just a click away from shopping the iTunes music store.

You are probably right, Stitch, in that the DRM just isn't a huge factor. I mean, Amazon is currently selling these tracks DRM free, so maybe it just isn't the must have feature (no DRM) for digital music buyers. Most of us really don't care - I know I don't. As long as I can play them on my iPod and burn discs I want, I really don't care. How about you guys?

Coolest Microsoft Application

I will be the first to admit that for the most part virtually everything from Microsoft as far as software goes has been pretty much a pain to use. Usually bloated with rarely used features and odd interfaces, making it a chore to use. But I believe this latest application called PhotoSynth is groundbreaking. It comes from a part of MS called Live Labs. Which I guess is a technology research area. This program allows you to take a set of still photographs which have some overlap in some way. And the program interprets there spacial relationships. Then allowing the user to view the photos by moving from one to another as if moving through 3D space. As if you were walking around the scene from the photographers viewpoint. It does all this automatically without any special photography equipment. It also allows you link pictures that are taken at different zoom levels. Check out the video in the link.

Link to article

One other interesting point is that this will be MS's first iPhone application. The comment was that the iPhone has sophisticated graphics which allow for porting this application to the iPhone. Other mobile phones do not have this capability.

Windows Market Share below 90%

For the first time in a long time, Windows market share has dipped below 90%:

Marketshare

So it appears the Microsoft stranglehold is loosening a little. Apple is growing. The trends point in the right direction. Will it keep going that way?

iPhone pinch feature missing in knockoff

Have you noticed that the iPhone pinch feature for zooming has not been found on the iPhone knockoffs? My guess is that Apple made sure that they had a lockdown on the patents for this feature so others could not simply copy it. It seems equivalent to the iPod scroll wheel which the iPod knockoffs tried to make dummy scroll wheels but were not allowed by the patents to duplicate it identically. This gave the iPod an unique advantage in marketing since the concept was such a hit with consumers. I believe that the pinch feature is the iPhone equivalent which keeps the iPhone on the cutting edge.
I can see the reviews of the iPhone knockoffs saying, "it has a touch screen, but I miss the pinch zoom feature of the iPhone".

Does the Blackberry Storm suck?

Check out the link to PC World:

Blackberry Storm

Several articles express disappointment in RIM's entry to the touchscreen mobile device market that Apple pioneered. Should we cry a little bit for them?

iPod Amazon success

Check out bestselling MP3 players on Amazon:

Bestsellers

It seems to me that when the Holidays come along, people want the iPod, not the imitations. The Zune is behind the third generation pink iPod nano, for goodness sake. I heard Microsoft is planning to lower prices on the Zune to spur demand. It really is a great time when Apple is eating Microsoft's lunch in an important market. A market that MS would love to be dominant, but just can't!

I have waited for these days, and I am savoring every minute!

Snow Leopard ahead of schedule?

Did you hear? Snow Leopard is rumored to possibly be ready in the first quarter of 2009? Would you consider upgrading? I think I might if they even offered a modest number of tweaks in addition to faster performance. Heck, faster performance may be worth it by itself, don't you think?

Labels Dragging Feet!

Gentlemen, check out the following link:

Sony going DRM free?

The labels have gone to extraordinary lengths to artificially keep iTunes down by letting other digital distributors sell DRM free tracks for about the same amount as iTunes is required to sell music saddled with the DRM. This article reports a "hunch" that Sony may allow iTunes to sell its catalogue DRM free at the higher bit rate. Thus far only EMI does that.

Will the other major labels finally allow iTunes to compete fairly?

Tough Economic Times

How will Apple fare in these tough economic times? To be sure, all tech companies experienced difficulties after the dot com bust. I'll never forget Steve Jobs prophetic words - how do we get through this? INVEST!! With billions in the bank, Apple is exactly the kind of company designed to take advantage of times like these. With all that liquidity, they really CAN invest at a time when there are great deals to be had. Lots if brilliant engineers want to be a part of a stable and great company.

I believe Apple will thrive. What's your take?

Are the new MacBooks enticing enough for Le?

Does the unibody seemless aluminum case make your heart race? Or does the large glass trackpad with gesture recognition and built in click button make the human to computer interface even more connected? Or does the bright high speed graphics enabled LED lit screen make everything just jump off the page? With the subtle details such as the sleep indicator light actually being visible through a thin layer of laser drilled aluminum, make you say Wow. The simplicity of the magnetic latch, and magsafe electrical connection, and the accelerometer to sense if the laptop is taking a fall and saving your data by parking the hard drive head. With so much going for them, is it time for your new laptop to be one of the latest MacBooks? I think yes.

New Notebooks!!

Gentlemen, I know it has been a while since I posted, but I've been taken aback by market volatility! I feel a little better now, and I'm wondering what you all think about the new notebooks? Do you think the new Nvidia chip is going to help? What do you think about the shiny screen on all models?

Acid test for web browsers

Have you heard of the acid test for web browsers? There is a web site,http://acid3.acidtests.org/ that tests on how well a web browser conforms to web standards. I tried it out for the web browsers that I have on my PC. This includes Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. The results are shown in the picture. Chrome got the best score with 79 out of 100. Safari was next, then Firefox. Internet Explorer was so messed up that you could not even read the score. I would say that is a zero.

Anyway an article on Macnn.com says that the Apple Safari browser is now the first browser to have passed this test. Congrats. LINK

I just find it funny that the most used browser is the least conforming browser. Makes you wonder. By the way, I know I should have tested this on a Mac but I am in between upgrades now. Just couldn't wait for the Intel based Macs when I made my purchase.

How much longer ...

How much longer do you think Apple can lock an iPod or iPhone by preventing upgrade of the memory size. Flash memory has become so cheap it seems almost criminal that Apple prevents users from upgrading on their own. I know it is a marketing ploy to keep people upgrading iPods/iPhones. But when you can buy an 8GB flash memory card for only $20, it really makes you wonder why the iPod Touch starting entry only has 8GB.

They will need a serious competitor like Sandisk to push this. There music players already allow for upgrades. At some point people will be tired of upgrading their iPod because of this restriction. This may be the reason Sandisk is #2 for music players, albiet only 8% market share.

I just checked amazon and found a 32GB card for $78. But in a year it will probably cost $30. What is the intended life span of the iPhone? I hope more than one year. I would want to keep it for at least 3 years. But with the limited memory, in 3 years 64GB will be the entry level memory card, and I would be far behind.

Could it be that Apple is afraid that they made a product so good, that if they allow for memory expansion, that people might not upgrade in 5 years? They might have a case for that. The only reason I would upgrade my cell phone is if it breaks. I only use it for phone calls.

I believe I have discovered the reason for Apple's forced obscelecence. They make their products too good. So we will be stuck with unreplaceable batteries and non upgradable memory for a long time.

New iPods!

What do you think of the new iPods from Apple? I like the wide assortment of nanos. The rectangular version is back and is so much better than the wide nano. That was the worst iPod of all time. Shake your songs, really cool. Yes it is a copy of Sandisks idea. But I am sure Apples impleamentation is better.
Marketing the iPod Touch as a cool gaming device is smart. You know many will be smashed because of the interface though. Rounded edges just make sense. Why so little memory though? Flash memory is cheap. I bought an 8GB flash memory for my camera for only $20.
It seems Apple purposely has to limit some of their devices to keep demand high for the high end items like the iPhone. Guess that's the way marketing goes.
All and all, the iPod updates were evolutionary. Apple I think is running out of ways to wow people with the iPod. The Touch is old news, with the update just bringing things more up to date.

September 9 Special Event

Gentlemen, here it is! Apple just announced a special event "Let's Rock" for September 9! New iPods? New iPod Touch? Does the Classic stick around? (How can they eliminate one of the best selling iPods in the lineup?) The Shuffle is getting a little long in the tooth, isn't it? Comments?

Macnight 2008 a Success

Gentlemen, I do believe we must conclude that Macnight 2008 was quite a success! Stitch, it was a pleasure to discuss the state of the Mac today, in addition to enjoying excellent food and libation along the way. I believe we must have a follow up to Macnight in the not too distant future, but we should converge upon the lovely desert of Tucson.

Myst on the iPhone?

Check it out:

Myst

Apparently they might release Myst for the iPhone. I still remember when Myst was the latest coolest game on the Mac! Back in 1993 or 1994, I still remember seeing the game. It was incredible. According to the article, the last release of Myst was in 2005, and the company all but disbanded after that. How times do change! I feel somewhat nostalgic!

Current iPod line on the way out?

Gentlemen, if this article/rumor is to be believed:

New iPod Line?

the current iPod line is set to be refreshed very soon. It makes total sense - now is the time to do it. Well in advance of the Holiday season, beat everyone to the punch. It seems likely the iPod Touch line will be revitalized at a lower price point. I am interested to see if the ipod nano design will be changed. Supposedly they may go back to the first generation iPod nano form factor, which is more rectangular. I don't know - the current line is pretty darn cool! What do you think?