illa romza

An iPhone, not as a cell phone, but as a landline skype style wifi cordless phone to go with iChat. Wouldn't that make sense for Apple to make? Ties in with their computers & iLife, would work in all countries, and would be easy, and possibly cheap for them to make.

Steve Jobs, would probably want want to make a phone that transitions seamlessly between indoor wifi and the cell networks.

Sorry for the nasty long URL (http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:9OrBsXYjfxgJ:www.amazon.com/b/%3Fie%3DUTF8%26node%3D16263011+unbox+site:amazon.com&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=firefox-a), but this is a cache page from a google search where you can see what Amazons offerings our for their new download service.

It is quite impressive, but a racing game is definitely not the sort of thing that is remotely comfortable to play on a touch screen. They need precise control to be fun and no tablet or touch screen device will ever off that.

Not only precision, but force feedback, so that one can feel the difference between an open wheel racer vs muscle car, or the force of a turn based on the speed, or when they've damaged a wheel, or gone off road, etc. :)

This iPad game is more or less a novelty.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)



And is not perfect by any means but then again Intel doesn't really deserve the credit they get. Just look at the SB GPU and the bugs in SB in general. Since on can get superior GPU performance from AMD, and that is critical for some users, why not go with an entire AMD system? Yes I know the CPU is a little behind what Intel offers but that isn't a problem in Apples low end systems. Let's face it the Mini has never had a bleeding edge processor.

This discussion gets even more interesting when you consider AMDs coming Fusion processors. If you are about to buy a system with an integrated SoC solution which would you rather have an AMD GPU or an Intel one? Yeah I realize that some people need the fastest CPUs they can get, but for many a fast GPU delivers a better experience.

On top of all of that AMD seems to have the same vision of the future where the GPU becomes a kore equal partner to the CPU on SoCs. AMD is all in with OpenCL support today and has future plans to make such code much lower in overhead. Right up Apples alley.

In any event I see a number of reasons for Apple to split sales between AMD and Intel. Long term a few AMD based machines from Apple is better for both Apple and the industry.

Fusion is not just about graphics. Fusion has a DirectX 11 class GPU with true OpenCL, while Sandy Bridge and the next Atom have DirectX 10.1 class GPUs with an alpha of OpenCL which runs on the CPU side.

So, the ipod touch 4G is my first iOS device, and I had a bunch of problems putting on the screen protector when I bought the Dermashot. So much in fact, that I ruined the protector. Not seeing any others for sale on the site, I emailed their customer service to inquire when they'd be on sale. They said "soon," but in the meantime they sent me two FREE ones! Love their customer support and the case looks great on mine. :D

Does the protector reduce fingerprints or is it a fingerprint magnet?

Anyway, here is my point on the diesel vs. hybrids: After a quick glance around the web, I see the Toyota Prius stats at $23,050 and is rated at 51/48 MPG. The 4 door Golf TDI starts at $23,885 and is rated at 42/30 for the auto. Given the differences in mileage and difference in fuel prices, it is really hard for the average buyer to justify buying a diesel. Yes, I have read all over the internet about people getting insane mileage out of the diesels, but most people are just going to look at the ratings and compare that.

They will, but VW rated its mileage conservatively, because they wanted to make sure their new diesel didn't promise more than it delivered. I think that VW may revise those numbers in the future.

A diesel is still simpler, cheaper and potentially more reliable than a hybrid, and gives better fuel economy than a gasoline-engined car. So there is a definite market there, one that is likely to grow in the near future.

They are exempt from CAFE( since HD's are supposed to be work trucks and all), but they are required to meet the new diesel emissions laws.

True, that's a good point. But my original point was that the "Americans don't want diesels" argument doesn't hold water if people are buying diesel trucks in healthy numbers.

Advertising we can enjoy. Simple, effective, and clean.

Apple seems to do just about everything right, including their advertising.

Jobs for Prez?

I'll probably be waiting awhile, but I won't be purchasing a MBP until it has the Core 2 Quadro, built-in bootable flash memory for quicker booting times, and a hard drive that can be easily swapped out like the MB line currently has. It makes more sense to me to have a Professional line of notebooks with a hard drive that can be replaced easily than having consumer notebooks with this feature. After a user returns with my company's shared notebook, I could simply swap out the HD with a cleanly imaged HD to give to the next user. Why would the average home user or a non-tech college student with a MB need to swap out their drives through the battery compartment, but not a professional user? Steve - I'm not asking for a lot here.

Until I see these features or at least two of the three, I don't see a compelling reason to upgrade just yet.

Gene Huller
http://genehuller.com

Only 2% use MACs so they're unlikely to be exposed to one, PC users (98%) will bad mouth a MAC, and Apples advertising, while award winning does very little to enlighten people about the product. two notes: 1.) MAC is a networking thing, among others. Mac is a computer or a nickname.
2.) market share is not the same as installed user base.

Waste of time. Two reasons:

- Several hours of downloads
- Available in the states only

Apple still haven't rolled out videos to the rest of the world yet ( for what ever reason , i.e., licensing. Apple seem to be dragging their heels regarding getting licenses. It shouldn't take this long ).

http://www.rimarkable.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/sprint_blackberry_tour.jpg

Needed a secondary cheap phone to take with me overseas because the Evo only works in the USA (or where CDMA is available). $60 on Craigslist!

Judging from the pic, that's a CDMA blackberry

Do you think that the support of these 5xxxx cards could mean the return of the 24" iMac?

Too many cards for only 2 models (21" and 27")....

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp263/sochrisash/DSC04084.jpg

Heres my current update on my bug.

Bought some speakers that wouldnt fit the door cards so put them in this suitcase I bought at a vw show. Haha, its great :P

Bullcrap. WTF looks through CR to read bad reports? I look in it to find the BEST performing and quality products, not the worst. I only care about the worst if it was something I was considering at which point I take a much closer look.


I agree with you on that point -- nobody looks through CR for a bad report -- but you missed my point. If I am NOT a CR subscriber and the news comes out with some big thing CR uncovered then I am more likely to think "Wow, CR is a great publication -- I should subscribe". But if CR releases yet another glowing review of something from Honda, Apple, Toyota then I would think "I already knew that -- those are good brands".

CR gets notoriety in the media when they uncover something on one of the brand favorites. It also helps give them credibility with the masses by going after these guys. Sometimes they are over-zealous in their efforts. Their reviewers have personal bias too and I fully believe that comes to play in their reviews. It was just over obvious in the video they released on iPhone-4. The reviewer's little attempts at humor tipped his hand. Watch the video again and ask yourself "was this an unbiased reviewer?" The answer is an obvious "No".

The reviewers at CR make their mark by uncovering the missteps by the big-name brands. Its how they build their career. Apple is a big target for any of their reviewers (as are any automobile manufacturer when it comes to safety issues -- these are big news).

I've never seen the 11:00 news lead with a story on "Consumer Reports says the new iPhone is the best", but they are certainly going to lead with "Consumer Reports says Apple's new phone is fundamentally flawed". The reviewers know this and they look to get the big story. They are human and their personal motivations play into what they do, just like everyone else.

Whree is FireWire 800?On the iMac 24". :pAt least two FireWire ports, please.You can buy a FW Hub with 3 or more for $30.And a true 7200 rpm fast drive.Buy a 400GB PATA Drive at Fry's on a holiday for $100 and put it in a $30 FW Case. You can even boot off it by cloning your internal to the outside.What? No Core2 Duo? Why? The Core2 Duo costs the same as the Core Duo, according to Intel's price list. Is there a shortage of the Core2 chips, was Apple committed to purchasing a certain number of Core Duos, or was whoever decided to go with this configuration just temporarily insane?Supply. As soon as there are enough Core 2 Duos coming at Apple to fulfill their needs for the iMacs, MacBook Pros and MacBook then Apple will switch to Merom in the mini I think by Thanksgiving. It's a cool move by Apple 'cause they are immediately offering the speed bumps that they were planning for the Core 2 Duo version now instead of when they switch the chip once they get enough.

:apple: apologists unite!

Did anyone else thing that was a really bad advert? They hardly showed the product fully at all!

In the music business, Apple has taken advantage of people's willingness to give up some sound quality (ie MP3 and AAC formats) in exchange for ease of use in buying and using the music. I don't expect the movie service to offer HD, at least not for most movies. I expect they'll do the same thing they did with music-- actually offer slightly LOWER resolution than DVD in exchange for a very convenient package.

That's how Apple got the music industry on-board, and it would offer a great story to the movie studios, who are constantly worried that the higher and higher quality formats mean they're "giving away their masters". Instead, people may be very willing to buy lower quality copies as long as it's extremely convenient.

I like Franken, he's a good egg.. Shrug. Minnesota *needs* at least one elected official with an IQ higher than 40...

While I agree that this data (location data in general) really should be better protected against the chance of being intercepted without a user's permission, I think it's more important for all involved in this chicken little act re: iPhone location data to remember that most iPhone users already openly share all of this info and more on sites like Facebook, 4 Square, twitter, flickr, etc..

I don't share this type of data, I hate Facebook, 4square, etc... (and git off my lawn!!!) and if I'm using my iPhone camera, make sure I have location services turned off unless I want to use the gps data for MYSELF... Actually, unless I'm using Navigon I usually keep location services turned off ..

Sadly, the vast majority of smartphone users have handed over more data than this willingly, and don't really seem to care about privacy..

I think that's the real story in all of this, that few are picking up on. And, shrug, that's just pathetic. If all this chicken little energy was put towards educating consumers about their data, their privacy, you wouldn't need Franken to write a letter to Jobs. But, no one *really* wants educated consumers in any marketplace, be it music, video, phones, food... It's just bad for business. And states like MN should be the last to throw a stone in the glass house of privacy, just google how they want to track cars that *gasp* are *too efficient* ... to collect more taxes .. sigh.. God forbid they just raise the license/tag fees.. have to add expensive tech and invade citizen's privacy... sigh. I'd like to see Franken speak out against invasions of privacy by the state just as aggressively..

no one has mentioned that the font used in the banners is Myriad Pro Light instead of the typical Myriad Pro Semibold or Regular.. hmm

The Apple Product Cycle

An obscure component manufacturer somewhere in the Pacific Rim announces a major order for some bleeding-edge piece of technology that could conceivably become part of an expensive, digital-lifestyle-enhancing nerd toy.

Some hardware geek, the sort who actually reads press releases from obscure Pacific Rim component manufacturers, posts a link to the press release in a Mac Internet forum.

The Mac rumor sites spring into action. Liberally quoting �reliable� sources inside Cupertino, irrelevant �experts,� and each other, they quickly transform baseless speculation into widely accepted fact.

Eager Mac-heads fan the flames by flooding the Mac discussion forums with more groundless conjecture. Threads pop up around feature wish lists, favorite colors, and likely retail price points. In a matter of days, a third-hand, unsubstantiated rumor blossoms into a hand-held device that can do everything except find a girlfriend for a fat, smelly nerd.

Apple issues it customary �we don�t comment on possible future products� statement in response to inquiries about the hypothetical new product. Mac fanatics are convinced that they're onto something.

The haters enter the fray to introduce fear, uncertainty and doubt. How expensive will the product be? Will it support Windows file formats? Will it work with my ten-year-old Quadra 840AV running Mac OS 8.1?

As Macworld or the Worldwide Developer�s Conference draws near, the chatter builds to a fever pitch. Rumor sites jockey for position, posting a new unverifiable, contradictory rumor every hour or so. eBay is flooded with six-month-old, slightly used gadgets as college students, underemployed web designers and independent musicians struggle to clear credit card space.

On the morning of Steve Jobs�s keynote presentation, the online Apple store grinds to a halt as Mac-heads set their browsers to refresh every 15 seconds.

Steve Jobs spends the first half-hour of his keynote crowing about how many iPods shipped during the previous six months and how many �native applications� have been developed for OS X. Attempting to appear as though it�s just an afterthought, he finally introduces the new Apple product. The product has sleek, clean lines, a diminutive form factor, and less than half of the useful features that everyone was expecting. Jobs announces that the product is available �immediately.�

Five minutes later, the new product appears on the online Apple store. Orders have an estimated ship date that is four weeks away.
The online Apple store takes 50,000 orders in the first 24 hours.

Apple�s stock surges as Wall Street analysts proclaim the new device will be �Apple�s savior� and the key to turning around the decades-long decline in Apple�s share of the global PC market.

The haters offer their assessment. The forums are ablaze with vitriolic rage. Haters pan the device for being less powerful than a Cray X1 while zealots counter that it is both smaller and lighter than a Buick Regal. The virtual slap-fight goes on and on, until obscure technical nuances like, �Will it play multiplexed Ogg Vorbis streams?� become matters of life and death.
The editors of popular Mac magazines hail the new device as the next great step toward our utopian digital future. Wired News runs exclusive interviews with the Apple design team. Fortune publishes another glowing fluff piece about Steve Jobs, proclaiming him to be the great visionary behind all technological innovation. Newsweek declares the device the new �must have� item for any self-respecting urban technophile. All of this is written before anybody outside of Cupertino has held the new device in his or her hand.

Business Week publishes an article stating that unless Apple immediately releases a Windows version of the new product its market share will continue to shrink and Apple will be out of business within six months. Mac zealots howl with fury and crash Business Week�s email server with their angry rebuttals.

In the wee hours of the morning on the initial ship date, as the Mac heads lay snug in their beds or take MDMA and dance to bad music, Apple delays everybody�s ship date by four weeks.

Rage reigns in the Mac forums. Lifelong Mac users who would never consider purchasing anything made by Microsoft or Dell, regardless of how shabbily Apple treats them, vent their anguish and frustration. Failing utterly to see the irony of the situation, they prattle on until their panties are twisted in knots.

The rumor sites abound with half-baked theories blaming the shipping delay on everything from heat dissipation problems to SARS. The most obvious explanation, that Apple lied about the initial shipment dates, is ignored in favor of more elaborate and unlikely scenarios.

Apple�s stock plummets as Wall Street analysts fret about the company�s supply chain problems. The same analysts who were raising their targets on Apple three weeks earlier appear on CNBC and predict that Apple could file for bankruptcy as soon as the week after next.

A week before the revised ship date rolls around, small quantities of the new product begin to appear in Apple�s retail stores. Chaos ensues as crazed Mac-heads queue up hours before the stores open, hoping to get their hands on one of the prized gizmos. The bedwetting in Mac Internet forums reaches tidal proportions as people post empty threats to cancel their online orders. The devices begin to appear on eBay and get bid up to absurd premiums over MSRP.

Pointless outrage slowly turns to pointless optimism. Driven insane by the lack of instant gratification, would-be customers profess their willingness to gun down the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny if it would hasten the arrival of the FedEx delivery person.

Nerd porn threads appear in the Mac forums. Some lunatic with too much time and money on his hands disassembles the new device down to the bare, soldered components and posts pictures.

The obligatory �I�m waiting for Rev. B� discussion appears in the Mac forums. People who�ve been burned by first-generation Apple products open up their old wounds and bleed their tales of woe. Unsympathetic technophiles fire back with, �if you can�t handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen. *****.� Everyone has this stupid argument for the twenty-third time.

Apple issues a press release to announce that they have now taken orders for over 100,000 of the new devices and shipped at least eight or nine dozen. Backorders and waiting lists stretch into months.

Movie stars, professional athletes and rappers begin accessorizing with Apple�s new gadget. Shaquille O�Neal appears on the cover of ESPN The Magazine using one. Mac fans unconditionally forgive him for Kazaam.

Wall Street analysts appear on CNBC wearing big smiles and bright spring colors to announce that Apple's new device will drive Apple's sales to unprecedented levels and might be the key to turning around the decades-long decline in Apple�s share of the global PC market. Apple's share price surges. People who understand the root cause of the dot com bubble shake their heads in silent disgust.

Trade publications and business magazines begin to refer to the market for Apple's new product as a "space."

A minor, rarely occurring flaw in the device begins to be discussed in the Apple support forums. Whiny, artistic types post lengthy diatribes about how this terrible design flaw has made the device unusable and scarred them emotionally. Electronic petitions are created demanding that Apple replace the devices for free, plus pay for counseling to help traumatized users overcome their emotional distress.

Taken completely by surprise at the success of Apple's new gadget, executives from Dell or Sony or Microsoft appear on CNBC and offer vague suggestions that they are beginning development of a new product to compete with Apple. In its next issue, PC Week magazine publishes an article declaring that Apple's dominance of the [insert gadget here] space is in jeopardy.

Weeks before most users are able to hold Apple's new gadget in their hands, "What features would you like in the next version?" discussions take place on Mac mailing lists. Mac-heads cook up droves of far-fetched, often bizarre ideas. A cursory reading makes it readily apparent why Apple executives pay no attention to their fanatical customers.

Apple releases the first software update for the new device through its Software Update control panel. Several hours later, it pulls the updater. A small number of people who applied the update experience crashes, data loss, headaches and ennui. The Apple support forums are filled with outraged posts. A day or so later, Apple releases a revised installer without comment, then quietly removes the angry posts from its support forums.

Somebody starts a thread on a Mac chat board that asks whether anyone knows of a way to use the new device with some other nerd toy in a way that makes no sense whatsoever. Out of the blue, somebody writes a hack that facilitates the unholy combination and offers it as $39 shareware. Seven of the nine people who actually try to use the hack download it off of BitTorrent and use a pirate serial number. Advocates point to this as an example of how independent Mac software development is thriving.

Dell or Sony or Microsoft releases a competing device which costs $100 less and is based on completely incompatible, Windows-only technology. Business Week declares Apple's dominance of the [insert gadget here] space over. Angry Mac zealots make plans to surround Business Week's corporate offices with torches and pitchforks until someone points out that fire and garden tools are so un-digital.

Wall Street analysts appear on CNBC to explain that Apple's device will never be able to compete with the onslaught of cheaper Windows-based competitors. Apple's stock plummets. Idiot technology investors experience a brief moment of deja vu before they return to masturbating to photos of Maria Bartiromo.

Consumers discover that the Windows-based competitor to Apple's device contains a proprietary digital rights management technology that prevents them from using the device to do anything expect except look at family photographs taken in the last 20 minutes.

An obscure component manufacturer somewhere in the Pacific Rim announces a major order for some new bleeding-edge piece of technology that could conceivably become part of some expensive, digital-lifestyle-enhancing nerd toy. The fun begins again...

http://www.misterbg.org/AppleProductCycle/

:D

They are making it sure look alot like the iOS. I hope they can put this OS on the iPad. :D

You have a point, but it's already 7:40 pm on Monday here so your work day would already be done. Plus I'm in Australia so how much can I really complain?

On a side note:
Maybe some Aussies can help me understand the price difference of computers here. Back home I bought the 17" MacBook Pro for something like $3,300 AUD and I come over here and it's in the $4,500 AUD range. I did get the student discount back home, but that's a huge margin.

Edit:
Hmmm, location still didn't change.

US Store, 17" MBP (no taxes): AUD$3655
AU Store, 17" MBP (no GST): AUD$3999
CAN Store, 17" MBP (no taxes): AUD$3591

You have to add sales tax to the US and Canadian prices as they are not only aren't displayed in the price but the taxes differ from state to state/province to province. Aussie GST is quoted in the price and is that same across the country so a 17" MBP costs exactly the same in every state.

The difference is about $400 which is pretty big but we're not a big market, thus selling to us costs more as the size of the market can't make up for the increased cost of getting the products to us.

We also make more money, I remember a while ago doing a comparison between a waiter on Aussie award wages and US minimum wage in the purchase of an iBook. The US waiter would have to work ~2x as many hours as the aussie waiter to afford an iBook at our respective online Apple Stores.

Except at a lot of Starbucks that internet functionality comes at a cost, which is my point.

May be bliss, but not until we have a sound infrastructure. And I have been on some really shoddy networks, which ends up becoming far more frustrating than worthwhile, to the point where I just slam my PDA into my pocket and curse inaudibly.