You are reading FAR too much into the “may not have the opportunity to speak to you before the April 1 anniversary.”
I didn't see the keynote, though I did follow it. Were those his exact words? If so, he is saying he won't be speaking before the anniversary, which could mean he will speak then.
After yesterday's discussion about OSes it occurred to me that the reason many people still use hotmail is similar to one of the reasons people still use Windows, at least here in Argentina. And since Hotmail got mentioned again today, I thoght I'd put it forward.
Many of my friends use Hotmail as their main e-mail even though it still offers only 2MB (Or 25 after a series of steps to make the system think your account is US-based). It is not that they don't use it much or that 2MB is enough, in fact most complain all the time about their inboxes being full. The thing is that Hotmail is the only way most people know to use Messneger and since everyone uses Messenger... well, you know. Of course, Messenger can be used with almos any other mail account, and there are a lot of free providers that offer more space, even excluding Gmail (more on this later). Yahoo for example was among the first to offer 100mb (at this time Gmail didn't exist or was still obscure). Only now are some people begining to use Gmail for MSN, and only a few. It took a service with a much better interface and 500 or 1000+ times the storage, depending on the moment, to get people to change.
What I am trying to show is that most people will stick to what they know even when there is something better and it will take an enormous advantage to get them to switch. And here we return to the Mac vs MS battle. Many people maintain that OSX is better but is it 1000 times better? 500 times? It will take something much better, a killer app or whatever you want to call it, to get the masses to switch.
Viperteq, the subject of how much one would pay for Apple hardware was discussed in yesterday's article where many an Apple user stated that he would buy other hardware for a certain price. The benefits of using third party hardware for power users, like expandability, were also taken into account.
Beaver: don't worry, the nano-transmitters come with an I-O switch, just hit any finger against the desk twice and a green LED lights up under your thumbnail. Also, keep the little finger pressed for about 3 seconds and play/pause/previous/next butons appear on your other nails. Wanna supersize that with a 2 GB flash chip to store your tunes? (This one will be installed under your palm)
"...soon we can cast our Logitech mouses into the trash and don gloves and headsets which will be better suited to exploring..."
But that would require users to completely disconnect from the outer world and also to get all dressed up before using the pc. I think input devices will tend to become more 'invisible' to the user. The problem with voice recognition is not typing but other commands, which could be complicated without a mouse. But a combination of VR and touchscreen or mouse could be the most useful. Of course, this is available today! Maybe a good idea could be a sort of pointer or something attached to the tip of your finger, with the same functionality as a glove but without having to wear an actual glove.
Chris: I know, your line made me think of it instantly (I had read the book from which that quote comes a long time ago) so I looked it up on quotationspage.com.
"Put differently: Once you assume a secret motive the “motive” defines the argument rather than the argument defining the motive."
"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930)
Still a very nice article..
"The trick works about 12 or 13 times a year... As opposed to college football, apparently Apple can only go the mysterious product intro route twice every six weeks."
12/13 times a year = once every 4/5 weeks, or twice every 8/10 weeks.
twice every six weeks = 17 times a year.
If you’re saying the media decided to make it more than it was, than as the Apple leader, Jobs should have put a stop to it.
I don't think shareholders would like the CEO of the company to tell the media not to care about a new/refreshed product introduction.
I do not follow Apple happenings obsesively, but I do read Thinksecret/Macworld with regularity and didn't hear as much about this last event as with the previous ones, but maybe I forgot to check. Also, the introduction of dual-core PMs seems relevant, considering they had had nothing but .2/.3 GHz bumps for a while, and double the RAM and video also seems important. On the other hand, the new PBs was too little, way too late and seriously overhyped (even if the previous reports only said minor speed bump, it wasn't even that!).
Finally, the introduction of Aperture on the eve of a pro photo convention does seem oportune.
An interesting theory, though of course a far stretch. Anyway, for more power-users the TS could be a PowerMac in a closet (or an Xserve, for that matter) capable of driving several thin clients including what used to be computers and TVs, streaming music to the stereo and so on. Another thin client could be a stripped down iMac. And this opens new directions for rumored AirportEx A/V, Media I/O Box, etc.
As is clear, we are now getting closer to a home automation system, which with future technology could be managed from a regular Mac or PC.
The problems, IMO, that any company intending to carry out this product plan would face, are:
1. The need to develop a new, huge product line exclusively based on a technology many users may not understand or feel capable of managing. The besto solution would be to create as little specific products as necessary, sticking to modified versions of those already in production, such as driveless Minis, or bare-bones iMacs.
2. Similarly, this would require users to buy lots of new hardware. A user would either have to replace all of the house's computers simultaneously or buy an expensive jut for one computer. While it may be just as expensive or less than buying new computers every now and then, it could give the impression of being expensive to the end user.
The reason that the Apple approach can get away with a much more user-friendly remote is that the software does all the work, rather than the user having to fathom out yet another incredibly complex remote...
Actualy, the reason the FR remote has less buttons is it can't do all the work other similar system do. Now, that isn't necesarily a bad thing, before someone takes ofense, it is indeed different. However, it must be admitted that this new paradigm is still far from reaching its prime. It would take a much more comprehensive Media Store to make the lacking features go unnoticed.
Front Row brings the iPod user interface to your Mac. Based on the success of the iPod, It’s a rather obvious step for Apple to take.
Of course, Apple wouldn't release a complicated DVR system for users to hook up to theyr cable system, that's beyond their design philosophy, but as of yet, the Apple solution is incomplete, or at least not mature.
There’s some truth to that martunibo, what better phrase to both admit the rip off while downplaying the work of others?
I’m with Beeb that I don’t mind when companies use the ideas of others legally, it happens all the time and makes for better stuff down the road but I jsut not really seeing it this time around.
Hey, I never said a rip-off is inherently wrong. What is wrong is the use of double standards when discussing Apple's products vs. others.
But instead of you being able to record the programs you’d otherwise get for free on the WMC, you get to BUY them from Apple and watch them on a 2.5” screen.
Well Chris said it himself: The real question is: How can we, yet again, differentiate ourselves from everybody else while making some dough?
Then again, you don't have to pay cable companies (that is in the nirvana I mentioned in #25), now let a math uber-geek calculate a pricing scheme that would make the new system equal in cost to the existing one. In the meantime, consumers shall put up with the extra cash. (That would be you consumers, since I 1.live in Argentina, far far away from the ITMS (for now...) 2.am finishing high school and thus living with & off my parents)
It’s really quite simple:
Innovation=every single product that Apple makes.
Rip-off=every single product that competes with an Apple product.
Not trying to be offensive at all, but I think I discovered the other name for Apple products: 'done right'. Definition: used to describe an obvious rip-off not disguisable as pure innovation.
Just a fun note...
Possible New Product Names
Lackluster Performance At The Keynote
Popularizing the web
Will Apple Go All In?
What Is The Next Data Input Device?
What Is The Next Data Input Device?
Apple Adding A Second Button To Laptops? (A lesson in Speculation)
Apple Adding A Second Button To Laptops? (A lesson in Speculation)
Mac Laptop Market Share Poised to Spike?
Mac Laptop Market Share Poised to Spike?
iMac Stepping Stone To An Entertainment Thin-Client?
iMac Stepping Stone To An Entertainment Thin-Client?
Apple’s Media Center PC End Around
Apple’s Media Center PC End Around
Apple’s Media Center PC End Around