Crackworld Revealed
January 15th, 2008
Blurbomat predictions:
-New MacBook (yes)
-Apple TV with new content announcements (yes)
-Something with touch technology (yes, trackpad with more touch options).
Stuff announced that I’m stoked about:
-iPhone update looks very sweet (movie not loading at post time). I’m going to install it the first moment I can.
-Time Capsule. We’ll probably get one as a better way to backup the laptops. And maybe finally enjoying full 802.11n speed over WiFi.
-MacBook Air (store link) looks really nice for a road warrior. Probably won’t be picking one up.
I’m pleased most with the iPhone stuff and Time Capsule. Are you bummed about today’s announcements or stoked? o
Tags: macworld, predictions
-
This entry is filed under apple, geek. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You may leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Please read the Terms of Service before leaving a response.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
$3,098.00 for the solid state version.
It better come with a pony. A Golden Pony.
Multi-touch trackpad seems like it would be very cool
January 15th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
A lot if this stuff is cool. I’m still going to wait on an iPhone,
I don’t think I’ll need Air (but am a little disappointed the whole thing isn’t touch responsive, and I don’t know if the world is ready for no CD/DVD drive built in) the new chip is pretty cool, too.
I like the new Air Port, my husbands been craving some back up space, and I think 1 TB will probably do it.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I’m stoked for the new macbook. I’ve been wanting and saving for one, but they are soooo heavy. This Air looks awesome. I’m in love.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Stoked. I was terrified that my AppleTV, which I bought for Christmas, was going to be made obsolete. When I saw those words “free software upgrade,” it made my day.
Also psyched that the iPhone (which I hope to buy this year) is getting even cooler.
And if I was in the market for a laptop, I’d definitely go for the Air. I’m sick of carrying this huge Dell around.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Wow you are quick Jon. Was Newman even done singing ?
My reaction ….mixed.
AppleTV won’t interest me until it has “DVR” capabilities.
I like the engineering on the MBA but not enough that we need to go out and buy one. I do like the remote optical drive capability. In a house with an iMac and an ibook that could be handy. I wonder if the remote drive will be an upgrade to Leopard?
The Time Capsule intrigues me but I need to research. I only need one wireless router for my house and I don’t understand why the Airport Extremes do NOT have Airtunes. Need to see if TC has it.
Also I am a little peeved at Apple (and I am a fanboy) Time Machine previously wouldn’t work with NAS,
now it will only work with TC ?
January 15th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
what the crap? I have to pay $20 for 5 new apps that Apple had to do absolutely nothing to, to get them on my Touch? And, if I get a new Touch, said apps will already be on it? That’s crap. Sorry. But it is. All it will do is make more users Jailbreak their Touch. Shady crap.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I’m a little irritated (with myself) about Time Capsule only because I just bought an AEBS-N a couple months ago (and love it) and have been reseaching to buy the backup drive to accompany it. Luckily I haven’t purchased an external HD, but now I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to sneak this one past the wife and sell of the ol’ AEBS.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Stoked. Just downloaded 1.1.3 and installing now. Time Capsule looks cool. MBA cool but not for me.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I love the iphone updates, finally SMS to multiple contacts, seems like not a big deal but it can be annoying to not have it. The Maps features are cool, as this is migrating closer and closer to GPS level.
Nothing really to excite a general population, the Mac Air is nice but still too pricey for me.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I am stoked about the iPhone firmware update. The other products and services look cool, but I won’t be forking over any of my cash just yet. I am a bit surprised that there wasn’t the whole “There’s one more thing” bit were Steve announces some really HUGE product right at the end. I was following the live updates on Engadget and after Randy Newman (huh, Randy Newman? Apple? - I kept thinking of the Y2K episode of Family Guy), the keynote was over. I guess I expected an even bigger announcement, but I am not disappointed. Thanks for the post, Jon.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Let me save you $299: 802.11n is nothing to get excited about. Our network runs off of a Netgear 802.11n router, and you still can’t transmit audio or video, or even photos for that matter, at a reasonable rate. My wife is a professional photographer, and I was hoping we could keep her images on the RAID network device… but working directly from that has proven to be impossible on a wireless connection.
In short, stick with ethernet.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I’m a little bummed. Only because all of the announcements were leaked days ahead and even mainstream media was covering. I miss the crazy pre-Macworld hype days where you could photoshop render after photoshop render of some whacky Mac dream product and they were all fake, but then Steve would take the stage and show you something no one had predicted, but still made you giggle with joy. I knew it wasn’t going to be anything like the iPhone, but I still would have loved a nice surprise.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I still think the Air is a great idea, but I think after reading more about it, I’m wavering back towards getting a Macbook Pro when next I upgrade.
Drawbacks to the Air: no Firewire, which means no Target Disk Mode, something I’ve used in a few emergencies.
Battery is sealed inside the machine: not user replaceable.
Hard Disk is the same size as my current machine, and I’m filling that up quickly.
Intel graphic card.
Still, for my wife, who travels a lot, this might be a great idea.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I’d also like to point out that the iPod Touch SDK comes out in February, so if you don’t want to spend $20 on the Apple apps (esp. if you only want Mail), you might want to wait a bit and see if anyone develops a free/Open Source one.
Also, Time Machine works with any external drive; Time Capsule is just the hardware compliment to that.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I’ve already added the new apps to my iPod Touch. Well worth the $20 fee to upgrade.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I thought it kind of a long shot, but was hoping for some powerbook upgrades and an isight in the monitors since I’m in the market for both
January 15th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
No iPhone for Canada, as the rumour mills were reporting yesterday.
:(
Also, no replaceable battery in Macbook Air? Booo!
January 15th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Time Machine can write to an external drive , just not to NAS ( any drive with an IP ) that isn’t Time Capsule.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Truthfully, I was pretty pleased, even tho I own so little mac stuff now. Got a bunch of stuff from work to do .net on and haven’t been able to get new toys from Apple.
I think that the general public is a bit overexpectant these days, thnking Apple can come up with ‘THE NEW THING’ that will turn the industry on it’s ear every year. They’re good, but that good? I dunno.
That being said, as someone who is fairly tough on things, I wouldn’t get an MBA, I’d kill it in a week. Cool stuff available, I’m surprised Steve didn’t hit on the solid drive capability, that’s pretty big as far as I am concerned. I also liked the ghost CD drive capability from other machines, tre’ neato.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
S. Jobs: Minions! Make for me the world’s thinnest laptop!
Flying Monkey Horde: Easy. All we have to do is get rid of all the useful stuff.
Jobs: Okay, but will it be pretty?
Monkeys: As pretty as Michael Jackson’s face.
Jobs: … (furiously masturbating)
January 15th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Meh, more typical cool looking stuff from Apple. Macbook air - how do I go about switching out batteries? Or upgrading RAM? Ah, thats not the apple way sir.
So I want to watch a DVD on the macbook air. No problem, just load it into another PC or laptop on your network, share the drive, then connec to the drive through your network…. works great on a plane!
But Brewcaster all you have to do is buy the movie through iTunes…. GOTCHA~!
January 15th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
As much as I covet the Macbook Air, over $3,000 for the solid state version is way beyond my price range.
Although, I am hoping to be able to afford a new Macbook and an iPhone later this year so the iPhone update sounds great.
All in all, I call Steve Jobs pure evil for putting out products that I won’t so badly yet can’t afford.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
MBA: Hubba-hubba, as in “Give me a portable USB hub so that I can actually attach a Superdrive, a thumb drive, my ancient iPod, and a card reader all at once. Oh, and a pony. A golden pony.”
No USB 2.0 out on your camcorder? Have a nice day, and try not to step in the golden pony doo on your way out.
Still, the MBA would be a nice machine for text-based activities. Come February, look for a hipster two-finger-typing the Great American Novel on one of these at a coffeehouse near you.
Was also hoping for a memory boost in the iPod Touch, no luck there.
January 15th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
No optical drive!?!?! gasped the crowd.
Remember how people freaked about no “floppy drive” on the imac’s. I bought a Dell laptop many years ago that had a modular floppy disk drive…I never took it out of the package.
Gutsy. Truth be told, I haven’t used the dvd drive on my MBP more that 3 times in the last year.
Since we don’t have this iPhone thingy up here in Canada, I’m not sure what all the fuss is about.
January 15th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
The Air is so teeny tiny that my brain can’t quite wrap itself around it. I also think the Air makes some of the decisions they’ve made re. the iPhone and iPod Touch make more sense - I mean, people (myself included) have been all excited about them as palmtop machines. But why facilitate that when you know you’ve got the Air in the hole? And while people are going to bitch about the small storage capacity, in all honesty it meshes perfectly with the Time Capsule. Get an Air, a Time Capsule, and the external Superdrive and you have an ultralight that is, for all intents and purposes, still a desktop replacement.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Brewcaster: or you could just rip it to an Video_TS file. Or an .avi file. Or a Quicktime file. The last two of which would take up less space and use less power on a flight than running a DVD off an optical drive. Mac the Ripper and MPEG Streamclip: both free and open source.
And why is it a “Gotcha” to buy a movie from iTunes?
January 15th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
The macbook air is nice, but the name blows, every time I hear it i think “air jordans”. Glad I won’t be in school next year to see the rich kids whose parents bought this for them b/c you “need” to be ultra-portable at university (never mind the fact that at university you need a larger hard drive more than a 1 pound laptop). It is as sexy as sin tho. My boss has one and it is gorgeous, the box is small and it ships with the comp in an envelope!
January 15th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
I’m with Karl. The whole Time Capsule thing just pissed me off more than anything — I paid the money, I have the Airport Extreme, I have two enormous external HDs, and I still can’t use Time Machine in any convenient or logical way with my MacBook Pro unless I drop another 300 clams on more Apple hardware? That’s riddik.
After that I’m downright shocked that I they didn’t chump me and my first-gen AppleTV.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
so… the $20 dollar fee for the 5 new apps is for “accounting reasons”. And, you can update your software for free. And guess what…. the 5 new apps come in the update. The $20 just unlocks them.
The statement that the charge is for accounting reasons is worrisome for a couple of reasons. One, the incremental cost is close to, if not, zero. A few extra kilobytes with the 1.1.3 firmware we’d download anyway. If that can’t be covered by general operations or firmware maintenance in a company that has Apple’s margins, I don’t have much faith in that company’s long term viability. Two, allowing the accounting department to make product design and customer service decisions played a major role in sending companies like General Motors spinning down the toilet back in the ’70’s. Decades later, those companies, and our economy are still struggling with the repercussions of that practice.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:59 am
If you’re up here in Canada, this was a pretty disappointing keynote.
We have very little of the good content available to us through iTunes, so it will likely be the same with rentals and all the new content.
We also don’t have the iPhone, so the fuss about that is lost on us too.
Time Capsule seems kinda cool, but only for back-ups of larger files. I can’t imagine the throughput being sufficient for a photographer or videographer — too much file size. Hard wire is the way to go. It seems that it is made much more to support a lightweight new wireless family of products like the…
MacBook Air. The “cool” factor of this machine is undeniable, but I really can’t imagine who the target market is. As a constant traveler I can tell you that wifi is not yet ubiquitous, and in terms of reliability, ethernet (especially in hotels) is much better. A single USB port would likely need a hub if you brought an ethernet adaptor, because you will probably want to bring a back-up hard drive if you are loading irreplaceable files. And then there’s the speed of that drive — really slow which precludes any speed intensive work.
It really looks like a lightweight machine — in weight, but also in durability. It will be a beautiful internet machine, and an occasional creative work machine. But nowhere near an adequate desktop replacement, and a nightmare if anything goes wrong — nothing is user servicable.
It seems more like a status symbol than anything else at this point.If the price comes down I can see it being a lightweight SECOND computer, but only for certain uses — presentations come to mind. It’d look great coming into a client’s office with that slick machine, but beyond that…..?
January 16th, 2008 at 4:03 am
I’m pretty happy with the announcements…I knew there’d be an iPhone software upgrade, so I’m just patiently waiting to install it
I hope all the functionality will work in the UK version, anyway.
The new MacBook Air is sweet - just like Apple to be pushing the barriers of size when it comes to laptops. The possibilities are endless! Of course there has to be some compromise to make it that thin, but in a couple of years the technology will exist to be all to cram all today’s features in something that thing, that’s how technology works. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. And I still REALLY want one of the new MacPros that Jon got
January 16th, 2008 at 5:31 am
Jon - found this and thought you might be interested. Custom web icons for your website on iPhone and iPod Touch. Hope to see them for Dooce & Blurbomat very soon
http://www.hicksdesign.co.uk/journal/custom-webclip-icon-on-the-iphoneipod-touch
January 16th, 2008 at 5:36 am
Further to last comment:
“Apple has added a section called “Create a WebClip Bookmark Icon” and it calls for a 57×57 pixel icon. After some testing today I’ve concluded this recommended sizing results in a fuzzy icon, largely due to the iPhone being a 163ppi display.
Instead of sticking with the recommended sizing I bumped it up to 158×158. When this gets scaled you’ll be left with a crisp icon that sits nicely amongst Apple’s crisp icons.”
January 16th, 2008 at 7:22 am
I was disappointed. I’m very sad that the thing I’m going to be most excited about after Macworld is a MICROSOFT product. Bah.
I might consider Time Capsule for when we get a new Mac for my house, but right now, I already have my network drive hooked up to my router, serving the same purpose. But by using a Time Capsule, I’d be able to reclaim my existing external drive to use for other stuff, without ever needing to physically move my backup drive. That’s at least somewhat appealing.
January 16th, 2008 at 7:30 am
Karl/Karo, you can use Time Machine on a network drive, just not out of the box. It requires a small amount of Terminal trickery so that Time Machine sees the network drive as an option. Google “time machine network drive” and there’s plenty of unofficial documentation on it. The initial backup was as fast as cold molasses (took several hours, I let mine run overnight), but subsequent incremental backups are small enough where they don’t take too long (my home network is 802.11g).
January 16th, 2008 at 8:15 am
I have to agree with most of the hesitations to get the MacBook Air that have already been stated in the comments. I don’t want to have to shell out a ton of money for a slower, less powerful machine, and then have to buy auxiliary parts for it! I have to have an optical drive because I work on documents that are too large to be sent via email– my clients overnight them to me on CDs. And if I’m working at the coffee shop, I’d have to have the external optical drive– one more damn thing to haul around/break/lose/spill on. It won’t kill me to lug around a MacBook Pro– and I have decided that that is the machine I need.
I agree with Marshall– I would kill the MB Air. It would look very nice in a client office– but it’s a status thing. For the 48 weeks of the year that I am working at home and not in front of clients, I need the power of the MacBook Pro.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Marshall, your comments about the MBA were very well stated — I absolutely agree. Who is the target market, indeed.
Omar, thank you! I’ll give that a google and see what I come up with. My other concern, though, is that when TM was first released, it conflicted with Aperture. Does anyone know if that’s been fixed?
Off to do some fancy googly-moogly.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Ok, that was ridiculously easy. A one-line command in Terminal. Thanks again, Omar.
Although this does beg the question of why Apple cannot include this functionality straight out of the box, if it’s this easy.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Honestly, I was hoping for something more innovative to be announced (like a tablet!). And the name “Macbook Air” is retarded.
Still, it is progress and if they can accomplish this much, I am looking forward to the future.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:19 am
“[The slimness] is a major technical and aesthetic breakthrough, and a killer feature for those vexed by the fact that you can’t send laptops via interoffice mail.”
http://www.slate.com/id/2182227/
January 16th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I like the concept behind the air, and until actually looking at all that it had to offer (or not), I wanted one. Upon actually taking time out today to look at it and all of it’s features, I still want a MacBook Black. There’s that pesky affordability thing, though.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Is more double the price of a more-powerful, more upgradeable Macbook REALLY worth the (to me) marginal weight savings? Because, really, it should be more about the weight and not the thickness (or lack of).
Anytime I see/use more ‘lightweight’ devices like this, they always seem to get treated more carelessly, too. Something with more substance is more visible when not being used, and less likely to get tossed about, so I’ll be curious to see what the durability is like. Will it end up between someone’s pile of papers on the couch and have a textbook dropped on it, as an example?
And the Apple TV HD movie thing? [yawn] The box is limited to 1280X720, while my Blu-ray and HD DVD players will play 1080p and 1080i respectively.
Will my unlocked iPhone be able to use the map/locating feature in Canada? If so, that’s the only item of interest to me.
Very underwhelming, all in all.
January 16th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Question about touch on trackpads: Is pinching, spreading, swiping and rotating with your fingers REALLY an improvement over simply tapping a key or button? Performing any of those touch actions with any frequency over any period of time seems guaranteed to be slower, more awkward and more liable to piss off your carpal-tunnel than clicking is. Touch is clearly a boon to phones, what gots no keyboards or mice; but on an actual computer, it just seems like someone’s been watching too much “Minority Report.”
So, touch on a laptop: Rad or fad? (I call “fad.”)
January 17th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Just thinking…in these days of ever-restrictive luggage controls at airports, a lot of people may decide that the Air is just what they need. The weight and size savings can be enough to just squeeze that baby into your case! In Apple’s case though, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t have a massive market share, it’s the innovation that counts. Innovative things like the iPhone have broken the mould - now they have to keep on pushing the boundaries. I can’t wait to see what they do next. A tablet/touch laptop I hope
Dave Thomas - it’s REPETITION of movement that causes things like carpal tunnel and RSI…surely a wider variety of movements like pinching, zooming, multi-touch items instead of just one finger scrolling will actually be better for your hands? The multi-touch feature was bound to come to a laptop at some point - it’s no fad, it’s definitely here to stay. 5 years ago people would have said touch on a phone would be a fad…
January 17th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Yeah, I know from carpal tunnel. I also know that repeating a large, more involved action (pinching, for example) is worse than repeating a slighter one. Maybe the variety of actions you mention will save our digits and wrists — but that doesn’t mean any of them are easier to perform than just clicking a button. So what functionality does it add?
As I said, I think touch makes sense on the phone, which has much more limited input options (no keyboard, mouse, etc.). But if I had to scroll through five hundred photos from yesterday’s shoot, I feel that pinching and expanding and swiping shit will lose its charm.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:43 am
@Dave Thomas, I wonder if you threw a 30″ display flat on a surface and could use your hands (and arms and shoulders and the various musculature in the upper body) to quickly sort through those photos? I think the words that might describe the multi-touch trackpad: baby steps. I can definitely see a two-handed pinch/expand gesture being really useful, but only if I’m looking at a photo and want to quickly see a detail on my laptop that I probably wouldn’t be looking at photos on (I’d likely bring more firepower to a shoot or to look at images in this way).
Having had to go through slides on a light table, I would imagine being able to do the same with a giant display and a few hundred images would be pretty sweet. But I think we’re still a few years away from Minority Report style photo sorting.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Yeah, we’ll see. That kind of display is well on its way and might well prove to be the succulent and vital fruit borne from the seed of this silly laptop.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Sorry for belaboring — but right now if I want to zoom in on a photo on my laptop (using Picasa, for example), I just press my UP arrow. DOWN, I’m back out. Short of mind-ray technology, what could be easier?
I shut up now.
January 18th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I am pretty pissed about the $20 fee on updating my iPod Touch… but it was “free” for iPhone users…