The iSomething Announcement!
Because, You Know, Why Not?
Yup. I'll be live-blogging, hopefully based off a super-secret UStream feed like last time or, at the very least, from the 47 different websites I will be watching for coverage. Because that's just how I get down.
Genesis On My iPhone? Yes, Please!
Sega is releasing an official Genesis emulator for the iPhone either today or sometime in February (depending on which report you believe). It'll be free and come with Space Harrier II... A game I don't remember even a little bit... But will have in-app downloads of Sonic The Hedgehog for $5.99, Golden Axe for $4.99, and Eco The Dolphin and Shining Force for $2.99 each.
I'm currently nerding out over the idea of playing Sonic on my iPhone... Let's just hope it's better than Super Monkey Ball was, amirite?
Via Gizmodo.
The World Is About To Explode. Sorry, Gang.
Brandon "J. Is For Jackass" Mendelson writes on his blog on whether or not Microsoft can out-Apple Apple on Wednesday by revealing a tablet PC nearly 20 days before Apple is supposed to reveal their own highly-anticipated tablet offering. He says 'No.' I agree.
It's the end of the world as we know it, folks. I mean, I don't necessarily agree with why it won't work (he says it's because of the Apple Fandom, I say it's because Microsoft will likely not do anything revolutionary with the product whereas Apple will... Although, to be fair, I'm an admitted member of the Apple Fandom he talks about), but for us to agree on anything takes an act of Congress most times.
Also, should Microsoft and HP unveil a tablet tomorrow, expect all sorts of commentary here about it. 'Cause, you know, techno-nonsense is kinda my thing.
WWDC '09: Rumor Roundup/Predictions
Phil 'Holy Crap I'm Boring' Schiller will be delivering the Apple Keynote at the World Wide Developer Conference today, which is my version of The Superbowl. There's been a lot of rumors swirling around about what will be shown today and, because I love you, I've compiled a handy list. No need to thank me, it's all part of the service.
ITEM: iPhone OS X 3.0!
We already know the new iPhone OS will have the long-promised push notifications for applications, cut, copy and paste (finally), MMS messaging ('bout time), landscape keyboard support in all applications (thank you), phone-wide Spotlight search, stereo Bluetooth support, and phone-to-phone connectivity for contact sharing and gaming.
I think the only thing we're really expecting to hear about the new firmware is an actual release date. Which will likely line up with...
ITEM: New iPhone!
Expected to range in sizes from 4GB to 32GB, the new iPhone is supposed to have video recording support, an auto-focus, higher-resolution camera, a magnetometer for compass apps and to tell the GPS chip what direction you're facing, and faster 3G connectivity. Rumors have claimed that Apple will abandon the shiny finish of the current 3G iPhone in favor of a matte finish, which would be awesome, since the current back shows smudges and fingerprints like crazy.
ITEM: Snow Leopard
The next release of OS X should also be talked about today, giving an overview of the changes between Leopard and Snow Leopard, a majority of which are performance improvements and the like. The Marble interface, which can be seen in current versions of iTunes, is not expected to be a part of Snow Leopard, which is disappointing, 'cause I'm really tired of the Aqua interface, with its annoying blue scroll bars.
Yes, the blue scroll bars annoy me. Don't judge me.
ITEM: Apple Notebook Updates
The rumor of Apple updating their notebook line and rebranding all aluminum unibody MacBooks as part of the MacBook Pro line have been floating about, but I think it's unlikely.
ITEM: Steve Jobs' Return
While I think Mac Daddy will be in the audience, I don't think he'll take the stage... he might be ready to come back after his 6 month leave of absence, but I think a big part of what Apple has been trying to prove in that time is that the company doesn't need El Jobso to survive anymore, and taking the stage would be counterproductive to that cause. That being said, I can also see Ol' Mock Turtleneck And Jeans not putting his ego aside and taking control of the new iPhone portion of the event, so it really could go either way.
That's about all I can think of off the top of my head... I'll be liveblogging based on the streams of Engadget, TUAW, MacRumors and Ars Technica, as well as following updates on Twitter and tweeting about it myself so people like Scott don't miss out on anything.
The keynote kicks off at 10AM Pacific, 1PM Eastern, in case you weren't aware. I'll talk to you all then.
Coming Monday!
ShufFAIL
The other day, Apple released a new iPod Shuffle: a 4GB powerhouse o' awesome in something that would be eclipsed by a AA battery, all for the low, low cost of $79. I've always had a soft spot for the Shuffle, personally... It was to the iPod line what the white MacBook is to their computers; a gateway drug, there to show people how easy Apple products are to use and how awesome they are and why everyone must own the entire line-- Sorry, the iCult programming took over for a second. M'bad.
Image stolen from iJustine/TastyBlogSnack
"But wait," I can hear you cry, "where's the controls? Is the unit controlled with the power of my mind? 'Cause that'd be sweet."
Sadly, no. The thing is controlled through a remote found on the iPod headphones; click once to play, double click to go ahead a song, etc., similarly to the iPhone, and also the worst idea I've ever heard. Why?
ITEM: iPOD HEADPHONES ARE LAME
I've gone through a ton of the headphones Apple packages with their iPods and iPhones, and not one of them has lasted very long (granted, I'm not exactly kind to headphones often, but still), nor have they been comfortable in my ear. If, like me, you tend to use third-party headphones, you're kinda screwed. Unless there's some adapter offered. Speaking of which...
ITEM: AN ADAPTER TO MAKE THIRD PARTY HEADPHONES WORK IS LAME
When the first iPhone came out, the headphone jack was recessed, meaning you had to get an adapter to use any headphones you may have wanted. The adapters were somewhere in the realm of $20 for a generic one, and I don't recall how much the Official Apple Adapter™ was. It sucked, both for the added cost and because you now had some stupid-looking shaft coming out of your oh-so-sexy iPhone. People didn't particularly care for this, and by the time the iPhone 3G came out, Apple had realized that it was a pretty lame idea to need an adapter for your headphones, so the recessed jack went away.
While that sucked, at least you didn't need the adapter to actually control what song you were listening to... You had controls on screen for that sort of thing. With this, the controls would have to be on the adapter itself, which means either (a) it will once again be a tiny shaft sticking from your itty-bitty sexy device, which is inconvenient or (b) it will be essentially an extension cord, which would lengthen the headphone cable, which then means you have more of a chance of hooking it on stuff or, worst case, end up hanging yourself with it. You'd be surprised how many people fall off a cliff and die from headphone related hanging every year, so don't think this isn't an actual danger.
If that doesn't sway you, maybe this will: the adapter will be, at minimum, $20. You're now up to $100 for the iPod and adapter, and $50 away from getting a Nano with an actual screen and video playback. Why even bother making the Shuffle at all?
ITEM: INTERRUPTING MY MUSIC WITH YOUR STEPHEN HAWKING-ESQUE READING IS LAME
How are you supposed to know what song is playing, or what playlist you're in, or navigate from playlist to playlist? The iPod will talk to you, reading off track information, playlist titles, and the like. Frankly, this would drive me insane; I want to hear my music, not some computer telling me that 'White and Nerdy' is by "Weird Al" Yankovic. I'd rather have kept the original Shuffle concept where you don't know what song is coming up, or be able to easily choose what song I want, because I bought something called a "shuffle" and that's what I want the freakin' thing to do: shuffle my songs and surprise me!
Perhaps I'm being too hard on the thing... Maybe I just don't "get it." But, when someone like me, who rarely has anything bad to say about Apple and their products, no matter how pointless (I'm looking at you, AppleTV), hates a device that much, there's gotta be something wrong.
Then again, iJustine likes it, so who am I to argue?
David Pogue And The FireWire Fail
I generally dislike most “popular” tech columnists that are out there; they range from the painfully boring (The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg) to the obscenely annoying (whoever is paying super-tool John C. Dvorak this week). However, there has been one tech columnist who I’ve always found amusing, informative, and generally awesome: The New York Times’ David Pogue. He seems to have the same weird sense of humor I do, and doesn’t spend all his time talking in “nerd,” which, as someone who also has to explain technical nonsense to people who’s eyes glaze over when you have to talk about something more complicated than Spider Solitaire, I can appreciate... it’s harder to do than you think, and I challenge you to do it sometime.
However, that being said, it is with a heavy heart that I must say the following sentence: David Pogue’s column today was full of crap.
Mr. Pogue reviewed the new MacBook today in his column, and he made mention of the good things about the unit: the sleek new style, the simultaneous lightness and sturdiness of the unibody aluminum enclosure, and the fact that the thing just looks freakin’ sweet. I kid you not when I say that my friends and I stood around one, drooling like a bunch of 12-year-old boys who just found a Victoria’s Secret catalog when we saw it; the thing is hot.
What disappointed both Mr. Pogue and my friends was the removal of the FireWire port on the MacBook, a jack that had been a staple of Apple products for years. FireWire is an insanely useful connection, which allows for a range of things like importing of video from a MiniDV camcorder to your computer’s hard drive with lightning speed to allowing for diagnostics to be run on a Mac from another Mac (or a FireWire hard drive with OS X installed on it), making Mac repair a bit easier. It’s a great port with a lot of utility, and there’s a great number of people who can’t understand why Steve Jobs would take it away.
The answer is simple: the fact that I had to take a paragraph to explain FireWire, and why it’s useful, proves that the target audience of the MacBook wouldn’t even notice it was missing.
The MacBook is the “gateway drug” into all things OS X. If you’re going to be doing video editing, you’re likely going to get a MacBook Pro; if you either want to look trendy, not have Vista, and/or have some weird obsession with Justin “I’m A Mac” Long, you’re buying a MacBook. These are not people who are going to lament the fact that they now can’t transfer their family movies to their hard drive for editing and burning to DVD; hell, most of them don’t even realize that’s an option. The MacBook is there to lure people away from the $699 HP laptop that they might have bought (which, coincidentally, also doesn’t have a FireWire port!).
Mr. Pogue didn’t look at the MacBook from the perspective of who it’s aimed at, which is why I say he’s wrong today. However, I’ll also up the ante by pointing out that he missed the biggest complaint I’ve yet to hear from anyone with “power” in the tech world: the glaring lack of a simple memory card reader on either the MacBook or the MacBook Pro. There isn’t a metaphor appropriate enough to describe the wide gap between people who use their computer for video editing and people who use their computer to store, edit, and share digital photographs, and the fact that I had to buy a third-party card reader for my stupidly expensive MacBook Pro, while the same person who bought the $699 HP has one built in, drives me insane.
I wish I could claim credit for this observation; sadly, all credit must go to my friend Dave, who is closer to a “real” computer user than Mr. Pogue or I could ever hope to be. I was out to lunch with him, talking about how awesome the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros looked, but how disappointed I was about how FireWire was now going the way of my other favorite obsolete ports, a list I will have to remember never to share if I don’t wanna seem like the biggest nerd ever. I rambled on about how I was pretty pleased about the new trackpad, and the fact that El Jobso had finally picked up that people wouldn’t use a battery meter that was on the bottom of a computer, and that I was pumped that he wisely moved it to the side where it could be used easily. Dave’s response was simple:
“I’ve had my MacBook since April, and I never knew there was a battery meter on the bottom of my computer, and I have never had the urge to use the thing. It’s pointless; if I wanna know how much power I have left, I’ll turn on my computer like a normal person. However, you know what I would have put on the side where a row of five stupid LEDs are? I slot where I could stick my damn SD card from my camera so I don’t have to carry around either my external card reader or a spare USB cable! IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK?!”
As I mentioned before, both Mr. Pogue and I are often required to explain technology to people who either don’t want to understand it or are afraid of it, and that can sometimes lead you to think that although you’re a total gearhead, you can still see new products from a standard users point of view. Clearly, that’s not the case.
I just happened to notice it first. Therefore, on the internet, I win.