Apple iPad Special Event Coverage Jan 2010 - part 3

Geekanoids Apple Special Event Coverage Jan 2010 - part 3. The Apple iPad is officially announced. This video contains more specifications, details of iWork on the iPad, plus the important pricing information on both the Wifi & the Wifi+3G version.

This is part three of my coverage. Check back very soon for more.

Apple iPad Special Event Coverage Jan 2010 - part 2

Geekanoids Apple Special Event Coverage Jan 2010 - part 2. The Apple iPad is officially announced. This video contains details of the specifications of the new device, how apps run on it, plus some specially developed apps for the iPad.

This is part two of my coverage. Check back very soon for more.


This video was uploaded whilst the event is still going on.

Apple iPad iSlate Tablet Predictions

Apple iPad iSlate Tablet Predictions. Apple are holding a special event on January 27th 2010. For a long time now many websites and journalists have been trying to predict what is going to be announced. In the run up to the event, a whole host of companies are announcing tablet devices. Here are my views in the hope that you can add your thoughts to the comments.

Steve Jobs Windows 7 Party Box unboxing

Steve Jobs (well a look-a-like) gets an unexpected Windows 7 Party Box delivered to him. He is so excited with the thought of holding a party, so after this unboxing he will be busy putting together his guest list in time for his party next week.

Apple's It's only Rock & Roll Event - Expectations

Today at 10am Pacific Time, 6pm GMT, Apple will be holding an event to launch a slew of new products. The 'It's only rock and roll' event takes place at the Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts in San Francisco, where they have adorned the front with a striking music banner.

Every September we see new iPods. So, it is a forgone conclusion that we will see a new iPod Nano and touch. There have been many pictures doing the rounds of new cases. The most likely being the Hama cases that featured on Engadget. It seems an obvious step for Apple to introduce a camera to the iPod touch, bringing video capabilities and simple editing akin to the iPhone 3GS. The Nano will more than likely only be able to take photos. There has also been rumours that Apple experienced problems with the initial batch of camera units. If this is true, we might see a slight shipping delay after launch.

We might also hear two bits of sad news too. The iPod classic is likely to be retired. When it was announced as the 120GB version available today, the company said it would be the last version of this model. The second wipeout news, is that of the AppleTV. The 40GB version has been showing as 1-2 weeks shipping for a while in the Apple online store. This may well indicate that stock is being run down on this model. It would be nice to think that Apple does keep on developing the AppleTV, maybe even showing us a new version later today.

A new iTunes (version 9) is also likely. With social networking additions for Facebook and Twitter. It seems as though the application is getting a little cluttered now and is certainly trying to do too much. Keep it simple Apple, or people will lose interest! Also rumoured is The Beatles coming to the iTunes Store. This is not a big deal for me, plus I don't think it'll happen today anyway.

The most anticipated product that people want to see is the Apple Tablet. If Steve Jobs takes to the stage, he may well surprise us. I personally don't think it is that likely, but I really would love to see it. A 10-inch touch screen device, with HDMI output would be superb. Surely acting as the coolest media type server on the planet. Of course, it would do a lot more besides just serving up content. Apple will do the touch interface just right and you will see a lot of people opting for these over a laptop. Keep checking back on Geekanoids later today and tomorrow for full coverage of what Apple has up its sleeve(s).

Apple Snow Leopard to land August 28th

My order is in, is yours? Apple have delivered on their promise. Their next operating system, in the form of the greatly optimised Snow Leopard is now available to pre-order. They said September and whilst everyone was expecting the last day of the month, they pulled it out fo the bag. You can pre-order now for £25, shipping on August 28th, it may well be in your hands prior to the beginning of September.

Now, I know it does not offer stacks of new features, but it still excites me. It has some cool enhancements. It is sleeker, faster and smarter. The new OS even promises to save you around 6GB of hard disk space. All the main system applications are now 64-Bit and Grand Central Dispatch promises to take full advantage of multicore processors. Better graphic performance courtesy of OpenCL and a new version of Quicktime. Sound good? Check out Geekanoids for full coverage and installation guides when it lands on my desk.

 

Palm taking the micky with iTunes syncing

iTunes might be free for the Mac & PC, but it is not free for anyone to financially benefit from as a feature of their product. So when Palm released the Pre, everyone was surprised that it synchronised with users iTune libraries. Yes, Palm had taken a somewhat risky move in my opinion. They had done nothing less than hacking into Apple's software, to find out how to make the Pre appear as an iPod (or iPhone). Instead of Apple setting the lawyers loose, they simply released iTunes 8.2.1 to fix the so-called problem.

Well, Palm are either stupid or ummm stupid, as they have now released webOS 1.1.0 for the Pre. Their release notes cite in black and white that the new version "Resolves an issue preventing media sync from working with latest version of iTunes (8.2.1)."

They may well be spelling this out to gain publicity from writers like myself. So, to a certain extent, they are getting some free publicity. However, let me put you right, if you are reading this as a Pre owner (or someone who is considering this product). For a company to release a mobile phone, capable of playing back music and video files, to hack into another company's software is very underhand... and that stupid word comes up again. How lazy, they have the manpower to do their own software. From a buyers point of view, how annoyed will the dozen or so Pre owners be, when they have relied on iTunes from day one, only to find that it no longer works (and believe me, Apple will make sure that it stops working).

Apple is being very kind about the situation. They are well within their rights to slap Palm for this and if it went to court, the conclusion is pretty obvious. Maybe Palm are already admitting defeat, clocking up as many Pre sales to pay the big legal bill that they will likely face. In my opinion Apple deserves recompense for every version of iTunes that has been used to sync a Pre... that would be sweet justice for Apple, but if it is on a per-Pre-sale basis it might not equate to much.

Apple Store is Down - New iPod touch?


The Apple Store is not taking orders at the moment. This normally means that they are either making some small changes to their store, or even better, adding a new product or two. My guess is that a new iPod touch will appear today, we will probably know what is happening by 13:00 GMT. Check back here soon.

Come back Steve... with a NetBook

I am sure you will all agree with me that we want Steve Jobs to come back to Apple, in good (and continued good) health. It was expected that Steve might have returned for the WWDC, but it did not happen. Just prior to WWDC there were rumours that he was due to come back at the end of June, with a special event for his return. This would be great and lead me to thinking about what Apple could do for the big Steve Event.

With the repositioning of the 13-inch MacBook into the Pro line, this has got to have left the space open for a smaller device. Could it be that Steve will return to launch the Apple NetBook. A device with no physical keyboard. Instead an 11.6-inch touch screen, with some sort of dock or wireless connection for accessories... mice, keyboards, headsets etc. Whilst this would be great, if Apple could come up with something based on a slightly smaller 10-inch screen, the extra portability would certainly meet with a standing ovation. It could run on the iPhone version of software, or OS X Snow Leopard in it optimised form. This sort of device would negate the need for users to carry a laptop at all.

I am 100% certain that Apple IS working on a NetBook device. I just hope that they do not make us all wait too long. They will add their successful design skills to the device for sure and it will be a very sexy product. So, come on Steve, come back, we need you to give us that 'One More Thing...'

TomTom coming to the iPhone

When this was announced at Apple's WWDC I almost wet myself. As a long time TomTom user I can remember this being rumored with the first iPhone launch, but it never happened. Now TomTom have made it official, with a very snazzy looking iPhone 3G/3GS docking cradle for your car and details of the application that will be available from the iTunes App Store. I hope to be able to bring you a full video review including installation guide soon after the product is released. Check out their official release video below.

Apple Redefine MacBook Pro - Opinion

Yesterday, June 9 2009, Apple launched an array of new products. The first to receive the Phil Schiller treatment was the MacBook Pro lineup. This was a surprise to me, as I really thought that the WWDC would concentrate on Snow Leopard, iPhone OS 3.0 and the new iPhone model... more on that later.

A thread over on Mac Rumors, which I have posted to, posed a very good question. By launching the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, or should I say re-labeling the existing unibody MacBook, were Apple admitting they were originally wrong to release the unibody MacBook in the first place?

My opinion on this is NO. I do not think they were wrong with the launch of the 13-inch unibody MacBook. It was and still is a terrific machine. However, they need to always innovate and bring out new machines, with new features. By adding Firewire 800 (they listened to their users on this one), plus introducing the SD card slot and improving the battery life, the model had too many pro-level features. Had they kept it as just a MacBook, potential customers would not even look at the Pro models, as the 13-inch version offers just too much. Had they gone the other way and dumbed down the 13-inch model by perhaps keeping the old screen and battery configuration, customers would have complained. So, I think they did the right thing. They gave us new innovative battery technology, more colourful screens and that SD card slot is really handy.

In doing this repositioning of the 13-inch unibody model, they also left just one white MacBook. This model is a good specification, but it sits there all alone. I think they did this on purpose. It really does leave the door open to phase out the MacBook altogether. The obvious next step is a 10-inch or 11-inch NetBook or perhaps the much touted Mac Tablet with touch screen. It also allows them to introduce more than one NetBook model, with pricing starting at around £500 for the base model, up to the current MacBook pricing of £700 without confusing its customers. This was a good move on Apple's part. It really does mean we WILL see a new device, sooner rather than later.