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Announced At MacWorld 2008...

James Xuan [PersonRank 10]

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
16 years ago3,594 views

1. Apple TV 2, HD...5.1 Dolby...New UI now based around movie Rentals $229, firmware update going out to all current ATV owners
2. Movie Rentals
3. iPhone/iPod touch Firmware Update
4. MacBookAir-Thicker at Back End, Almost Completely Wireless $1799
3.0 pounds, 0.16 -0.76 inches, 13.inch display, full-sized keyboard, multi-touch gestures, iSight, 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo standard, 2GB memory standard, 80GB hard drive standard (64GB SSD optional), 802.11n Wi-Fi standard, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR standard, and MagSafe

Martin Porcheron [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Here's my quick view on the product announcements:

1. Pointless without movie rentals then (see below), but at least Apple has realised existing customers shouldn't be punished for giving Apple money.
2. I wonder how long it'll take for movie rentals to hit the UK. All I know is, when they do come accross the pond, they will be more expensive .
3. I don't own either so its hard to comment.
4. A basic MacBook has a quicker processor, and is only £700. The Air looks great, but I'm not convinced I want to pay an extra £500 for less features but a pretty frock.

A very "normal" set of product releases really – nothing worth screaming about. But then again, an iPhone is hard to live up to (although 3G support would have stopped me considering getting a N95 sometime this year).

James Xuan [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

They say International Movie Rentals later this year...

Zim [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

They won't beat Div-X...

/pd [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

wet to macbook – lots of people are disgruntled about the sealed battery on the new macbook!!

Colin Colehour [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

There was also the Time Capsule announcement. A wireless router with built in hard drive for wireless backups from both MACs and PCs.

I'm surprised they didn't announce a new update to Leopard too. (10.5.2) was expected in a lot of the rumor sites.

James Xuan [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I cant believe I've become such an apple whore. I paid for my update even though I had jailbroken and they changed my cool dock :-(

Floris [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

I would love buying the Mac Book Air, but it has too many downsides, such as optical drive, ethernet dongle, no apple remote, can't expand ram to 4gb, the hdd is very cheap and slow slow speed old parallel, etc, etc .. very cool machine nevertheless. But too expansive at this point.

I will let everybody buy it, and in a year or so I will get the second generation that's $1250 to $1500 price range.

Roger Browne [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

One thing I found interesting was that Jobs didn't announce Apple's new tablet computer. He just introduced it by stealth.

With the iPhone/iPodTouch software update, there's the ability to reorganize the screen to accommodate new software applications (and a few apps, like maps with triangulation, were announced). After the software developers kit comes out in February, and iTunes starts selling third-party applications for a few dollars each, iPhone and iPodTouch will truly be tablet computers, and I think we'll see some fabulous applications.

On other matters: the MacBook battery IS replaceable, just not by the user. If it's a matter of paying Apple $100 instead of buying a third-party battery for $50 and doing it yourself, then I don't think that will bother people who paid a few thousand for the laptop. You can't have the thinnest laptop unless you seal the battery. Same deal with the iPhone battery.

Although Time Capsule (and Time Machine before it) don't have the "kapow" effect, the successful implementation of "no-brainer" backup and recovery is really very impressive. This is great stuff.

Now, just to show that it's not a no-brainer after all, here's a question: I already have a broadband modem/wireless router. Does anyone know whether/how Time Capsule would play together with my existing modem/router? Would I run an ethernet cable from the existing router, or would Time Capsule want to join the existing network wirelessly? Or can't I use them together?

I don't currently own any Apple gear, but I'd like to change that. I like the direction Apple is going.

Ianf [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Two reactions spanning the width of the North American continent:

[CALIFORNIA] "The shark. Steve Jobs has jumped it." (in Engadget's MWSF coverage I think);

[NYC] "Steve Jobs Fails to Make Us Crap Our Pants"
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/01/steve_jobs_fails_to_make_us_cr.html

Ianf [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here] Roger Browne: "Jobs introduced [ Apple's new tablet computer] by stealth" [ http://blogoscoped.com/forum/120854.html#id120893]

I, too, was surprised, that no true tablet item appeared, tablet as in 'handheld with a 5-10" screen.'

Perhaps the same rumor mill that got it so right this time (as to there being Yet Again Mac Book in the lineup – which I didn't believe, because it sounded so mundane), and which claimed that "the A-tablet isn't quite ready yet," is right about this too.

If so, we're bound to see it soon enough, after the iPhone SDK has been released, and first reports disclosing native tablet-resolution code classes etc. appear (about 5 minutes later?)

Because --let's face it NOW-- the iPhone with the WebKit Safari, represents nothing less than Apple's frontal attack on the mobile browsing market. And they have a shot at it, chiefly because the competition out there is so-sooo abysmal.

Colin Colehour [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]Roger, I wonder how well Time Capsule will play with other non-Apple routers in the same household. I kinda wished time capsule wasn't a router but had wireless access like the Apple TV.

Avrohom Eliezer Friedman (AEF) [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

<<then I don't think that will bother people who paid a few thousand for the laptop>>

[put at-character here]roger –

That's not the main issue with the battery – a lot of people have a second battery they carry with them when they go on long trips so that when the first battery runs out – they just switch to the second one.

Roger Browne [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]Avrohom: thanks for explaining. I guess a third-party battery that powers the laptop through the USB port is a viable solution.

Mambo [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

<< wireless backups from both MACs and PCs. >>

Time Capsule only does automatic wireless backups with Time Machine's Leopard, but the storage space can be used as just a shared hard drive, too.

James Xuan [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Cant you just set it up as a back uo drive???

Ianf [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Here's more about Apple Webkit-based iPhone Safari's _measurable_ (=$$$) advantages in the emerging mobile browsing market; this from a New York Times' story dated all of 3 days ago (2008i14):

"[...] the Web layer on mobile devices was terrible,” he said. Google has taken advantage of the capabilities of the iPhone browser to create a product, internally called Grand Prix, that it says provides easy access to many of the company’s services, including search, Gmail, Reader and Picasa.

Google, which developed the first version of Grand Prix in six weeks, is introducing a new version on Monday, just six weeks after the first one. [...]"

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/technology/14apple.html

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