MacMost: Blog Posts

This week the Apple rumor sites are out of control. They are reporting on a mention of an “Apple Slate” by the executive editor of the New York Times. They say that this mention, in a private meeting, is proof that the device exists and is coming soon.
I find it amazing that bits of data like this are reported as akin to fact. Being a rumor makes it OK to report it as a kind of news. Being technology news makes it OK to be held to a lower standard of what defines news. And being Apple news seems to make it anything goes. I’m sure that the editor knew nothing specific and was merely being hypothetical.
But this did get me thinking about the mythical tablet again. You see, I’ve had a problem with the basic premise of the rumors. If Steve Jobs is spending most of his time on this device then it can’t be just be a big iPod Touch. There’s got to be more to it. After all, the iPhone came out and it wasn’t just a phone with an iPod.
So I have been trying to think about the angle here. What could an Apple Tablet be? Jobs must have an angle.
So here’s a big prediction. Let’s see how close I get:
The Apple Tablet will do for books what the iPod did for music. It will be an eBook reader, but in the same way the iPod Touch is a music player. It will be so much more.
As a matter of fact, if it sounds like the Kindle, I think it will be very much like it. It may even be the next Kindle. Amazon may be in league with Apple here, ready to pass the torch to the new Tablet.
I’ve always been of the mind that Amazon doesn’t care about the Kindle, they care about selling books. The Kindle was simply a way to sell more books. As evidence, look at the iPhone Kindle app — a free app by Amazon. Why would they do that, considering it must have reduced the number of Kindles sold. It is because they just want to sell books. The Kindle was a way for them to lead the industry forward and set some standards.
So one of two things will happen: Jeff Bezos will stand on stage with Steve Jobs during the announcement and proclaim the Apple Tablet to be the successor to to the Kindle. Or, perhaps it will be a little more subtle and the Apple device will simply support the Kindle format and the Kindle will slowly disappear as Amazon lets Apple take over.
So what else will this tablet do beside eBooks? Well, it will let you subscribe to newspapers and magazines as well. You can also read RSS feeds, play music and audiobooks, video, get email, and surf the Web.
How about apps? I predict that there will be a Tablet app store, but it will be separate from the iPhone/iPod Touch app store. After all, those apps are all made for 480×320 screens. I also think that Apple will take much stricter control of this new App store — kind of like they do with pure iPod apps. There will be a variety of Apple-approved apps centered around productivity, business and education.
The Tablet will also let you input data with a stylus, like the PC tablets. That tech is already built into Mac OS X, so it makes sense. It will be a great device for students to be able to take notes — even recording audio synchronized with the notes. You can tap a word or figure that you scribbled and hear the audio recording from that moment in time.
I think it will be heavily marketed toward education, with commitments from text book publishers to provide text books in 2010 in this format.
Wirelessly, the device will have wi-fi, and maybe nothing else. It would be great if it allowed you to bring your own 3G USB device so you could choose your own service, but I’m leaning toward wi-fi only right now.
OK, so there’s my prediction: a supercharged eBook reader that works with Amazon’s Kindle system, plays other media, and does basic email, Web surfing and has a small selection of high-quality apps.

I often get asked about iPhone cases. People want to know which one is the best one, or which one is right for them.
Not only is it hard for me to tell which is best, but I can’t even pretend to have seen or used even a fraction of the hundreds of cases out there.
But I can see the problem. After all, if you go to an online store, you can see there are hundreds of cases. If you go to a retail store, like the Apple Store, you only see a fraction of those. My local store has a maybe three dozen cases on display. I figure that’s only 5% of what is really available.
So I created a new section of MacMost called the iPhone Case Finder. Basically it lists all 700+ iPhone and iPod Touch cases, including only ones that are in stock or can be shipped quickly. So you don’t need to look at hundreds more that you can’t really get.
You can narrow the search by color, manufacturer, iPhone/iPod model and a variety of style choices.
The results are then put in a list that you can roll over to dig deeper by viewing images and reading descriptions. Then just click to go to Amazon and buy one if you fall in love.
Hope you like this new section and find it useful.

The MacMost.com Guide to Switching to the Mac is now in stock in local and online bookstores. You can purchase it today at Amazon.
MacMost.com founder Gary Rosenzweig quickly gets you comfy with your new Mac, demonstrates the “Mac way” to perform every common Windows task, and shows how to do more with Macs than you ever could in Windows… way more!
But the book isn’t just for switchers. It is for anyone who wants to get the most from their Mac. Even experienced Mac users will find useful tips, tricks and techniques.
It’s all here — everything from choosing the right Mac to creating your own videos and DVDs. Rosenzweig covers the latest Macs and the new Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system. Best of all, he focuses on what today’s computer users need to know, including loads of coverage of using your Mac on the Web.
Every Mac switcher needs a friendly Mac expert to show them the ropes. With this book, you’ve got yours!

• Discover what’s different about your Mac’s hardware and software — and what’s similar, too
• Navigate the Finder and learn how Mac files are organized
• Make the most of the Mac’s built-in applications
• Move your stuff from your PC to your new Mac
• Use Safari, Mac’s great built-in Web browser
• Set up Mac email, instant messaging, and audio and video chatting
• Share, back up, and archive your files
• Choose and use Mac business and productivity applications
• Organize your music and buy new songs with iTunes
• Import, manage, edit, and share your photos
• Create awesome videos with iMovie, QuickTime, and iDVD
• Run Windows on your Mac, if you must
• Keep your Mac up to date and running smoothly

You can read more about the book and see a table of contents at http://macmost.com/book.

There has been a lot of controversy lately about how Apple handles iPhone app store submissions. The app store is a strange distribution platform. It is similar to past distribution platforms in some ways, but has its own unique mix of problems.
Previous to the iPhone app store, software on mobile phones worked one of two ways. The first was that a developer could get an application on a phone only with the approval of the phone company, phone manufacturer, or both. The second was that a user could download and install software through their computer. Some phones only supported the first method, while others allowed both.
The problem with the first method was that developers had to figure out how to get their apps into the system so they could be downloaded on to the phones. Some systems didn’t even reveal to the public how it worked. As a developer, you had to track down the right people, make connections, set up meetings, spend money, and convince someone to get your app on to the phone. Even then, you had further convincing to do if you wanted your app to appear in the phone’s listing of purchasable applications in such a way that you might actually get people to notice it.
Phone companies favored apps by established developers with brand-name licenses. New or small developers had very little chance of getting the app listed on the phone. It was like retail — there was only so much shelf space and getting your product on the shelves was a mysterious and costly process.
The second method, where users could choose to download an application on their computer and transfer it to the phone, was much more open, as long as the phones and carriers that allowed it. But only a few people would go to all the trouble. A vast majority of mobile phone users would just purchase an app from their phone and wouldn’t bother to learn how to install applications from non-official source. So, for developers, it was tough to make a living doing it this way.
The iPhone app store is definitely in the first category because Apple is the gatekeeper and you have to convince Apple to allow your app to get on the iPhone. But it is different than all of its predecessors in that the app store has room for a virtual infinite number of apps — there isn’t limited shelf space. In addition, Apple has revealed the exact process to get your app to the store, even providing the software development environment, tutorials, a Web portal, etc. They are still the gatekeeper, but they are letting 99% get into the store.
So, what’s the problem?
Well, the problem that people are talking about is that 1% that doesn’t get into the store. Why doesn’t it get in there? Apple apparently follows a set of rules, and has a team of people that try to apply these rules to every app that is submitted. But being people, not machines, they are not all applying the rules in the same way. So whether a developer’s app makes it into the store, depends a bit on chance.
It seems that some of the rules are easy to apply literally and apps were rejected one ridiculous grounds. For instance, a dictionary app was rejected because profanity is not allowed. I guess those words shouldn’t be in the dictionary. An e-book reader was rejected because it is possible to find an e-book copy of the Kama Sutra. You can view that e-book in Safari on the iPhone. Other apps have been rejected on the grounds of “duplicate functionality” such as email clients or podcast feed reading. But these provided alternate methods to do these things, and were clearly not duplicates of existing Apple-created apps.
But rejection isn’t the only nightmare that app developers face. Do you see the apps on the front page of the App Store in iTunes? They probably make a ton of money for the developers. But how about the 50,000 other apps that Apple doesn’t bless with front-page recognition?
Obscurity is just as deadly as rejection in the iPhone app development world. When an individual decides to poor hours, days or months into creating something, only to find it buried in the app store, it spells ruin for that app and that developer.
So there is limited shelf space in the app store. It is still like a retail store, with room to display only so many products. The difference is the iPhone app store has “more in the back” that most people won’t ever bother to ask for.
So in the end, the app store is more like the traditional closed mobile phone app market, restricting success to the few. And it certainly favors large developers and brand names, as anyone who goes to the app store front page can see.
However, the small developer can break out of that and find success — like the American Dream. Let’s call it the “App Store Dream.”
That’s why developers are doing it. Not because they are sure of success, but because they hope for it. And I’m glad they do, because it is clear that this is where innovation will come from. It won’t be from the established developers rehashing their old games or purchasing brand licenses.
I just wish Apple would do more to more to help App Store Dreams come true. They need to speed up the app store review process. They need to use more common sense when approving apps. They need to provide a reasonable remedy system for apps that are rejected so developers don’t have to launch media campaigns to get wrongs righted.
If Apple believed in the App Store Dream, it would not only mean more success for developers, but for the iPhone as well.

With the release of the iPhone 3GS, there was a subtle, but important change in the gadget world. It has to do with the iPhone’s camera. The new camera will not only take better pictures, but also video.
The video recording capability is what is so interesting. Many of us have been carrying around little Flip cameras or something similar for a while now. The iPhone 3GS has pretty much the same capability as these cameras, so they can now be retired. More importantly, the iPhone is always with us, whereas the Flip usually one came with in situations where it was anticipated that it would be used. So there opportunities to record video just broadened enormously.
But there are two more important aspects here to consider. The first is network connectivity. You can shoot, trim and upload video right from your iPhone. You can upload to YouTube or MobileMe. Can’t do that with a Flip. Heck, just getting the video from your Flip to your Mac requires putting up with old AVI video codecs.
The second interesting thing about using an iPhone for recording video is that you are not stuck with the built-in microphone for audio. You can actually use the mic on the earbuds that come with the phone for recording, providing an easy way to speak directly into the mic while pointing the camera elsewhere. You can also use any third-party iPhone mic. For a lot of people this is minor, but for video creators like me this is huge. Camcorder makers have ignored the external mic option for a long time.
So now we have a phone, Internet device, compact camera, compact camcorder and mp3 player all in one small gadget. Getting better all the time.

So rumors are growing stronger that Apple will come out with a tablet product later this year or next. A lot of people seem to think it will be a large-screen iPod Touch.
In a way, this makes sense. With the iPhone/iPod Touch App Store a huge success, Apple can come out with an iPod Touch that takes advantage of all of that third-party software and the whole iPhone OS with its Web browser, Mail and other apps.
What a cool device that would be. Or would it?
For instance, I’m not sure how I would such an “iPod Tablet” myself. Would it come in handy at the office? Not with my desktop Mac, or even my MacBook Pro around. Why would I setting for an iPhone OS experience when I could have a full Mac experience.
At home, I use either the MacBook Pro for bits of work, or my iPhone for something quick. The only advantage of the iPhone is that it is on my person, which gives it an advantage when the MacBook Pro is somewhere else in the house. An iPod Tablet would suffer that same drawback since it won’t fit in my pocket.
So what about when I step out of the office? Well, the iPod Tablet probably won’t come with me. I need my iPhone, because it is a phone. I can check email, check news, tweet, etc., with it. It is small enough to be in my pocket all the time. The Tablet just won’t be there when I need it.
How about on long trips — overnight excursions to conferences or on vacation? Well, for that the Tablet probably won’t be enough. I’d need to take my MacBook Pro. And my iPhone for communication. So why do I need a Tablet?
So a Tablet won’t be for someone like me. It is more likely that it will be for someone who doesn’t use either an iPhone or MacBook. I just can’t see that being a very big market.
So how could Apple make it better? Make it a real Mac. If it runs Snow Leopard, and not the iPhone OS, then it can be a successor to the MacBook Air and a competitor to the NetBooks. Make it touch screen, sure, but also make sure Bluetooth and USB keyboards and mice work with it so you can use it for real work with real apps. For that, I would ditch my MacBook.
I hope they go that route, iPhone apps are great, but they are more for communication, organization and entertainment. To compete with NetBooks, a Mac Tablet would need to run applications, not apps.

Next week will mark the third major release of iPhone hardware. And with it comes controversy. Existing iPhone users, who bought an iPhone 3G less than two years ago — that’s everybody with an iPhone 3G — will have to pay an upgrade price if they want to switch to the iPhone 3GS.
One side of the story belongs to AT&T and Apple. Both companies had an agreement in the U.S. That AT&T would subsidize the sale of new iPhones for an undisclosed amount around $200. So the base model iPhone cost $199. Apple got your $199 plus $200 from AT&T. AT&T got a committed customer for 2 years.
Now that the iPhone 3GS is coming out, the same deal applies. If you have never owned an iPhone before, or didn’t buy one with a subsidy, then you get the base model for $199. AT&T pays Apple. You get a price break.
If you did buy an iPhone 3G and took the subsidy, then you aren’t far enough into your contract to get a subsidized price again. So there is a $200 charge. You pay $199, plsu another $200, AT&T pays nothing, and Apple gets it all. However, you aren’t committed any further to AT&T.
From the AT&T and Apple side of things, this all makes perfect fiscal sense.
From the customer side of things, this is getting a lot of people mad.
Who will pay this extra $200? The same people who want to get the latest and greatest. The same people who are Apple’s biggest fans. The same people who stand in line to get iPhones.
This has touched off a bit of a war between bloggers and commenters on the Internet, with fact-focused bloggers stating that this is how it is and everyone should stop wining. We should have known this was going to happen and that it happens with other phones on other networks as well.
But isn’t there a win-win here?
What are the motives on each side?
The customer just wants a good price and fairness. Certainly it seems that loyal iPhone customers should be rewarded, not punished, for their desire of the new phone. But Apple needs to make a profit on these devices — they’ve got employees and manufacturers to pay, and shareholders to please.
It seems to me there is a solution, if all sides are willing to give in a little.
First, AT&T’s motive in giving a $200 subsidy is to get a customer for 2 years. Why can’t they do that again? Simply extend the user’s contract by 2 years. If you are 1 year into a 2-year contract, then just push that date out again.
Apple could give a little by accepting the old iPhone 3G as a trade-in. They could resell it as a refurbished model. Even if they don’t it removes one more possible jailbroken unlocked iPhone from the market. I’d imagine that a lot of iPhone 3GS will become just that.
And the customer can agree to pay a modest upgrade fee. Doubling the price is a bit much, but would we complain about a $49 fee?
So how about: A $49 upgrade free if you trade in your old iPhone 3G and accept a 1 year extension to your AT&T contract.
Sounds like a reasonable solution.
But it looks like we are stuck with the $200 fee. At least this means we keep our existing AT&T contract, which will be a welcome thing if Apple every allows other carriers to sell the iPhone. Maybe this whole thing is a nudge from Apple that this really will happen some day.

In general, Apple didn’t disappoint yesterday. There were Mac and iPhone announcements, and plenty of talk about Snow Leopard and iPhone OS 3.0. But they didn’t wow us either.
I think the only thing that surprised most people was moving the 13-inch MacBooks over to the MacBook Pro name. This leaves only one “MacBook” left — the little $999 white one. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a plan to make room for more MacBooks. But it will probably mean the end of the plain MacBooks.
Think about it. Is there a “Mac” anymore? No, just the iMac, Mac mini and Mac Pro. How about an iPod? No, just the iPod Nano, iPod Suffle, iPod Touch and iPod Classic.
So it makes sense that there may only be a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air in the future. Perhaps the white MacBook will be renamed the MacBook Classic — that’s what happened to the iPod and also the original Mac design, remember that?
But Apple gets a thumbs up for the re-commitment to Firewire. Firewire is now on all Macs, except the port-minimized MacBook Air. All have Firewire 800, except for the white MacBook still with Firewire 400.
Also the addition of SD card slots to the 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pros is a good step. SD had certainly won the camera format wars, and this pretty much declares it over. It is weird that he 17-inch MacBook Pro doesn’t have a SD card slot, but you can always add one using the ExpressCard slot.
The release date for Snow Leopard wasn’t a surprise to anyone. Some thought earlier, some later. But September makes a lot of sense according to the rumors and bits of information we’ve had about its progress.
The fact that it will be a $29 upgrade to Leopard is a bit of a shocker. So maybe there were two surprises yesterday. What remains to be seen is how Apple prevents the $29 upgrade from working with Macs that are running Tiger. After all, the Snow Leopard DVD should allow a clean install on a Mac, so how can it tell what was there before? Perhaps the restriction will be in license only. I hope so, as any software-based restrictions would be bound to have unforeseen issues.
On the iPhone side, we’ll be getting the new OS and a new model the same week. That’s how it happened this time last year too. There’s not much to talk about concerning to OS — it has all been revealed before.
However, the new iPhone 3GS is something to discuss. There were lots of crazy rumors about this, and most of them were wrong. Only the reasonable ones were right.
The most exciting aspect has to be the camera. With a 3-mega-pixel camera and the video capability, this does start to replace some other devices. That’s a good enough resolution for high quality standard prints. And the video function will replace the small Flip cams for gadget geeks.
And speaking of replacing gadgets, the new turn-by-turn TomTom app and its likely competitors will replace the dedicated GPS devices.
It is strange at this point to start to compare an iPhone to a computer. A computer is so much more powerful and can do a lot that a phone can’t do. But now the iPhone can do a heck of a lot that a computer can’t as well.
Did Steve Jobs and Apple see the end of the PC era and find a way for Apple to jump to the next big thing? Whether they did or not, that’s how it looks now.

WWDC Keynote play-by-play:

10:00 Keynote starts with PC guy introduction.
10:01 Phil Schiller comes on and gives some basic stats about Apple developers.
10:05 Will tell us about Mac, iPhone and iPod Touch today. Starting with the Mac.
10:08 New MacBook Pro announced. 15 inch screen, unibody, built-in battery with 7-hour/5 year life. Includes an SD card slot as well. New, better display.
10:10 3.06 GHz dual-core processor, up to 8GB RAM, 500GB HD or 256GB SSD.
10:11 Low end will be $1,699, mid-range will be $1,999, high-end will be $2,299.
10:12 New 17-inch model also, for $2,499.
10:13 MacBook Pros available today.
10:14 New MacBooks. New 13-inch display. Same 7-hour batter and an SD card slot. Adds a Firewire 800 port!
10:15 This 13-inch MacBook is now also called a MacBook Pro and starts at $1,199 going up to $1,499 with options. Available today.
10:15 New MacBook Air. Price drop to $1,499, with $1,799 option. Processor now at 1.86 or 2.13GHz. $1,799 inlcudes 128GB SSD drive.
10:20 Now summing up Snow Leopard.
10:24 All about refinements. Finder re-written faster and less clutter. Installs faster. Less space taken up with OS. Drawing Chinese characters.
10:25 Safari 4 live today. Available for Tiger, Leopard and Windows. Allows a plug-in to crash without crashing the browser. Faster JavaScript.
10:27 New QuickTime X. Faster, color correction, HTTP streaming.
10:28 Demoing new features of Snow Leopard: Stacks now scrollable, subfolders inside of Stacks. Looks like lots of improvements to Finder QuickView and viewing images and videos in the Finder.
10:30 Improvements to Expose. Now in the Dock, better window organization, can work inside a window while still in Expose mode.
10:35 Safari 4: Search within text of pages in your history.
10:37 Talking about Snow Leopard being 64-bit and using multiple threads to take advantage of multiple processors (Grand Central Dispatch).
10:41 Mail, iCal and Address Book all support Microsoft Exchange, even things like meeting invitations. Requires Exchange server 2007.
10:46 Snow Leopard will cost $29! Family pack for $49.
10:47 Near-final developer preview available today. Will ship in September.
10:49 Now talking about the iPhone.
10:56 Highlighting new features of iPhone 3.0: copy and paste, shake to undo, landscape mode in Mail, Notes and IM. Also MMS (later this summer for AT&T), search calendars, notes and mail, rent and buy movies.
11:02 Tethering your iPhone to your Mac is now supported. You can use the iPhone to connect your Mac to the Internet. But AT&T in the U.S. will NOT support it.
11:05 Safari on the iPhone will support HTML 5.
11:06 Find My iPhone will be a new MobileMe service. It will allow you to locate your iPhone from any Web browser. You can send your iPhone a message, too. You can also send a remote wipe command.
11:10 Now talking about in-app purchases. Only allowed in paid apps, so free apps can’t trick you into paying.
11:11 Apps can now connect to external devices via dock or Bluetooth. Apps can now connect peer-to-peer. Developers can now access Google maps in their apps.
11:12 Push notifications can send alerts, sounds and change icon badges.
11:15 Game and app demos that use the new features.
11:24 TomTom showing off turn-by-turn directions app. Uses text-to-speech and will be out this summer.
11:40 Lots of other demos: scientific sensors, zipcar app, guitar controller, etc.
11:43 iPhone OS 3.0 comes out June 17.
11:44 Free for iPhone users, $9.99 for iPod Touch users.
11:47 New iPhone.
11:48 iPhone 3GS with new internal parts, but same form.
11:49 New 3MB auto-focus camera.
11:51 iPhone Camera will now record video too. 3fps, 640×480. Can edit videos on the iPhone. Can send to YouTube, MobileMe and over MMS.
11:54 Support for voice dialing and voice commands.
11:55 Digital compass.
11:57 Now iPhone supports data encryption.
11:58 New battery gives 9 hours of network, 10 hours of video, 30 hours of music and 12 hours of 2g talk time (5 hours at 3g).
11:59 New iPhone ships with iPhone 3.0 and 16GB for $199. $299 for 32GB version. Existing 8GB iPhone 3G will be $99.
12:01 iPhone 3GS available June 19 in US, UK, Canada and others. Other countries a week or more later.
12:05 That’s it!

With new information about the Zune HD coming this fall from Microsoft, it is obvious that the new device is targeting the iPod Touch. But will it measure up? Not likely.
While the Zune HD will feature a touch screen and Touch-like interface, it really won’t be too different from existing Zunes. If Microsoft believes that the success of the iPod Touch has to do with the touch screen, they are mistaken. It has to do with apps. Plain and simple.
The iPod Touch is a device for someone that wants an iPhone, but without the phone. And the app store is the reason this demand exists. Microsoft will surely not have an app store, at least not when this new Zune is released. And even when they do get around to creating one, it will be more like the Xbox marketplace than the app store.
What’s the difference? Well, if you own an Xbox you know that the marketplace has tons of games and video content. But what goes there is strictly controlled by Microsoft and they only let a few things through, about one game per week the last time I checked.
Contrast that to the app store that has dozens, if not hundreds of apps added each day. There are tons of junk apps, but also lots of innovative ones. Many apps are created by individuals with no budget. Things like that don’t find their way into the Xbox marketplace.
So for those that want a cooler, newer Zune, the new Zune HD will be welcome. But don’t think it will compete with the iPod Touch.

Lots of rumors floating around about Apple purchasing Electronic Arts or perhaps coming out with a game console of some sort. So what if they did? What would it be like?
Well, first of all, lets differentiate between console and handheld. Apple already has a great handheld gaming device: the iPod Touch (and iPhone, too, of course). The only problem with it is the price. $229 for a Touch places it way above the $130 Nintendo DS Lite. But if you factor in the iPod and video capabilities of the Touch, it probably has more bang for the buck.
So what about a console — a device to hook into your TV and use game controllers?
Apple has something that looks like a console already — the Apple TV. But it isn’t. It just plays music and video.
But wait a minute, it does have a wireless bluetooth remote. And it does have some advanced graphics stuff in it to enable it to play back video. A Nvidia GeForce 7300 last time I checked. And it has a hard drive. And it is connected to the Internet. And you can purchase things on it. It is even high definition, which is better than we can say of the Wii.
The Apple TV has inside what it would take to me a game console, though a processor, memory and GPU boost wouldn’t hurt in a new version.
So what would it take, really, to make the Apple TV into a gaming console? Well, a software update that allowed you to purchase and run games. And a new “remote” that was a game controller.
But what about the games? Well, if Apple TV is really running Mac OS X anyway, then there are plenty of Mac/PC games available. But the PC gaming industry has been over this many times. PC games, which require a mouse, keyboard and high-resolution computer monitor just don’t work well in a console setting with a controller and TV set.
But what it does mean is that the developer community already exists for an Apple TV game console. As we saw with the iPhone, developers are ready to spring into action as long as Apple provides a way for them to get onto the device and make money.
So here’s how I think Apple will do it. First, there will be a new version of the Apple TV. Just a bump in capability, nothing to write home about. But then it will be revealed that this new Apple TV is capable of playing games. Remember when they did this with the iPod 5G?
We’ll have things like Monopoly, Scrabble, Texas Hold’em, etc. Casual games.
These first games will use the little bluetooth remote, but soon Apple will come out with a game-controller-like remote featuring accelerometers. Look for it to have fewer buttons than the Xbox and PS3 controllers, or even the Wii.
Then, after there are 20-30 games available, we’ll start to notice that some of the new ones are racing games and shooters. The little Apple TV will be shown to be comparable at least to the Wii, and perhaps the Xbox 360 in capabilities.
Then Apple will announce the Apple TV app store. Developers will be able to make games and sell them through Apple. Within a year, there will be 10 times as many games on the Apple TV as all the other consoles combined. Most will be crap. Most will be less than $5. But those crap $5 games will sell a lot of Apple TVs.
Now some people may note that developers can already make games for the Xbox and Wii. So why haven’t those consoles filled in this role? Because developers really can’t make games for them. Microsoft and Nintendo strictly control the release of new games. A small developer with little budget doesn’t stand a chance of getting on those platforms. Apple TV will stand alone and become the closest thing to an open gaming platform.
Of course, there are a lot so ifs and maybes here. But it is fun to speculate.

With rumors around that Apple is interested in Twitter or Electronic Arts, there is debate whether either purchase would make sense. Apple has plenty of cash, and the argument is strong that Apple’s stockholders aren’t investing so Apple could just accumulate cash. So Apple probably should consider some sort of acquisition, in addition to its usual internal development.
I think the best potential lies with Facebook.
Why? Because Facebook can help sell more Macs and iPhones. And that is all that Apple needs to support the acquisition, upkeep and future development.
On the other hand, Facebook has a problem: how to make money. I seriously doubt that the current Facebook ad model will ever support the company.
So, if Apple bought Facebook, here’s what they could do with it. Leave the current feature set of Facebook that works on Mac and Windows through the Web browser and mobile apps. Then start tying iLife and other Mac applications to Facebook.
For instance, link iPhoto and Facebook photos as closely as possible. They’ve already started with this, but get even closer and create new features that only work from iPhoto.
The same can be done with iMovie for video, Address Book for managing your Facebook friends, and iCal for events. Start making new Mac application that tie into parts of Facebook is ways that Windows users cannot.
So, in other words, make it so that if you really want to be a Facebook power user, you should get a Mac.
They can also create a Facebook Pro, which would really be a merging of MobileMe and Facebook. That could make the entire Facebook division profitable, and the Mac marketing just a bonus.

I think one of the greatest strengths of the Mac is the software that comes with a new one. Along with standard Mac OS X applications like Mail, Safari, iCal, Address Book and TextEdit, you also get the iLife suite with iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD, GarageBand and iWeb. This takes care of a lot of needs right out of the box. For instance, you can audio and video podcast and make home DVDs without investing in any other software.
But Apple can still do better, and without much effort. Here are a few programs that I think can be easily added to new Macs to sweeten the deal.
1. Since the death of MacPaint, Macs have come without any way to simply draw. A simple program that allows one to draw lines, shapes and edit bitmaps would be a huge plus. Pros would still go to pro software for this, but a casual user could have lots of fun drawing and editing clipart. So I would suggest ImageEdit as a companion to TextEdit.
2. Seems like a lot of people need a very simple FTP program. I just did a video podcast on FTP with Cyberduck, an open source option. But the Finder can actually be used to download from FTP servers. It would be a logical extension of the Finder if you could open a window that was a full FTP connection to a server, as you can do with afp, smb and iDisk. Then you wouldn’t need an FTP program for a quick upload. Support for SFTP amd FTP with SSL would be a mist as well.
3. The Apple II was fascinating because it has Apple Basic. You could program it. The original Mac had Hypercard, which allowed aspiring developers to get their feet wet. The current Macs have Xcode, which is for serious and experienced developers only. Or, you could drop down into Terminal and do some hard-core programming there. But a simple Hypercard-like programming environment would go a long way to getting young people and “tinkerers” hooked on Macs. Since Safari and the Dashboard use JavaScript, and that is a well-documented and supported language, it seems that this would be a natural choice. So some sort of JavaScript programming environment that could produce stand-alone apps and Dashboard Widgets would be a huge plus for Macs both at home and for schools.
4, 5 and 6. Wouldn’t it be great if all Macs came with a word processor, spreadsheet program and presentation software? Well, they almost do. You just have to pay a little extra for iWork. But what if iWork came with every Mac? Which would make more money for Apple: ask people to pay $79 to get iWork, or give iWork away like they do iLife and ask people to pay for the next version. I think they would get more with the “first one is free” iLife model. Plus they would sell more Macs by being able to advertise that Macs come with the pro office suite while PCs charge extra for it.
Also, I think iWork is actually more iEducate. Those three applications probably get as much if not more use among students than among office workers. Pages is used to write papers, and Keynote is used throughout education. Apple even teaches Pages to elementary school students at its “camp” programs.
So there are my six picks. What apps would you like to see come standard with all Macs?

Here at MacMost we get questions all the time: questions about how to do things on Macs, iPods and iPhones, questions about the latest news and rumors, and questions about problems people are dealing with. We figured out a long time ago that we can’t answer all of the questions on the video podcast. Answering the questions by replying to email messages or comments doesn’t really reach others who may also have the same question.
So we’ve started a new podcast called MacAnswers. This is a short audio podcast where each episode answers one simple question.
You can subscribe to the podcast using iTunes and receive new episodes as they are released. We hope to produce about 5 episodes per week.
You can also participate by asking questions. We look forward to answering them!

So far I’ve spent some time with GarageBand, iPhoto and iMovie. GarageBand is mostly a face-lift, iPhoto has two major new features, and iMovie has both new features and a face-lift.
You can finally start GarageBand without having to get rid of that Grand Piano track. The music loops have moved to the right side of the interface, and the whole interface seems to have taken a step toward iMovie and the other iLife applications. At the start of the iLife suite, GarageBand was certainly the odd one out in terms of looks, but now it fits in better.
I also found the interface to be a bit more solid. The guesswork of hitting the track segment corners to loop a track or trim it now seem a little more definite. You’ve also got more well-defined ringtones options when you start GarageBand. I didn’t get to try out the lessons yet.
iPhoto’s two new features are locations and faces. The locations feature is interesting. Of course, the only photos I have that have a location are the ones I’ve taken with my iPhone since upgrading to the iPhone 3G. But it was kinda fascinating. I zoomed in on my home city and saw pins everywhere, in places I didn’t recognize. But as I clicked on them I rediscovered photos: oh, yea, the trip to the zoo. And that’s the time we went to that restaurant, etc.
I did struggle for a bit with a photo that was misplaced. I had to go deep into the interface and create a custom location for that photo to correct it. Glad I didn’t have any more of those.
The faces features really impressed me. You start off by letting it process your entire library to prepare it for faces. It took about 30 minutes for my collection. Then you select a photo and see the faces outlined in it. You pick a face and give it a name. Then you go to a screen where it tries to find that person in other photos. But it zeroes in on their faces, so a glance is all you need to decide. You just click once for yes, twice for no. Then when you complete the list, it gets an even better idea of who that person is. So you do it again. And again. In minutes you’ve tagged hundreds of photos. And it’s fun! In the end, you’ve tagged all your photos quickly and easily.
iMovie is a big one for me. I use iMovie to make the MacMost video podcast. So any major changes could have a drastic effect on my work.
But I’m happy to say that everything from iMovie 08 seems to work in iMovie 09. So no harm done. It does take a few extra clicks to change projects, which I do a lot to copy and paste pieces, but not a big deal.
The new precision editor is nice, though only a slight improvement over the clip trimmer that was already there. The video effects is a big new feature, though I hope there is some way to add new effects, or third-party effects. The image stabilization feature is very nice, and the perfect complement to owning a simple camera like the Flip that doesn’t have built-in image stabilization.
The maps feature is a curious one. You can pick a style of globe or flat map and then one or two locations. It will then animate a line drawn between the locations, also rotating the globe. It is interesting, but there are only a few styles so pretty soon these will be recognizable as “iMovie maps” and only useful in home video DVDs, and not presentations or anything semi-professional.
In general I like the changes in iMovie and I’m glad to see it getting better without being totally remade like last time.

Rumors of Apple Inc.’s CEO leaving haven’t been that far off after all. Jobs announced this week that he’ll be taking six months off in a medical leave of absence. Reportedly in a letter to Apple employees he said “during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.” But he also says “As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out.”
Tim Cook, Apple’s COO will take over a lot of Jobs’ day-to-day tasks, as he did in 2004 when Jobs was battling pancreatic cancer.
So this brings into serious play the question of Apple without Jobs. Rumors have stated in the past that Jobs is involved with every little detail of Apple’s operations, all the way down to picking the songs to be used in the iPod TV commercials.
But Apple’s senior ranks are filled with talented and experienced people. Jobs’ huge presence has kept the focus on him, and it is easy to forget everyone else.
On the one hand, Jobs taking a step back could be what is needed to let the rest of Apple’s management shine. In fact, you can theorize that this leave of absence is an attempt to do just that. There’s got to be a chance that Jobs won’t even return after six months, if things are going well and he is enjoying a more distant role.
And if he does come back, I’d like to think that the six months off will give him some great ideas and insight into what is next.

For many of the last ten years the week of MacWorld Expo has been the biggest news week of the year for Apple fans. This year might not be as exciting as 2006 with the announcement of the iPhone, but we had some good news nonetheless.
Both iLife and iWork and all apps in them are being updated. It looks like iMovie 09 will get some more professional features, and iPhoto will get some new organizational tools. You can read all about the announcements in our special MacMost keynote blog post.
Apple also announced the new 17-Inch MacBook Pro with similar features to the 15-Inch released a few months ago. One interesting new feature in the 17-Inch is an 8-hour battery that uses some new technology and sits inside the case rather that in a removable compartment.
Another announcement is that the iTunes music store will finally be switching to a DRM-free model. All songs will be DRM-free by the end of the quarter. In addition, you’ll be able to upgrade your old music to the DRM-free versions. Plus, the $0.99 pricing will be gone, replaced by $0.69, $0.99 and $1.29 prices. Looks like a lot of the older tracks will be at the lower price, making them more competitive with other MP3 services.
Of course there will be a lot more news this week from companies other than Apple. Many Mac and iPhone-related companies release software and hardware at the MacWorld Expo. Check the MacMost.com Top Apple News page for some of the biggest stories. Also check the All Apple News page to dig deeper and see just about every news story and press release issued this week.

The MacWorld Expo keynote address is being given by Philip Schiller, Apple senior VP for Marketing. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has given the keynote for the last 10 years, but is recovering from an illness.
Schiller starts by mentioning how 3.4 million people visit Apple stores every week, and compares it to 100 MacWorld Expos every week. This fits with one of Apple’s reasons why they are not going to do any more MacWorld events — the Apple stores make it unnecessary.
He says that he will focus on the Mac in this keynote. There will be three Mac-related announcements. The first is iLife 09.
iPhoto 09 will include organization by faces. Facial recognition technology will allow you to tag your photos according to who is in them. You can also organize by places, using GPS information and a map with pinpoints you can place. Map is from Google Maps and you can zoom in and use satellite views too. You can also specify your own locations for photos without GPS information.
The new iPhoto will also let you upload directly to Flickr and Facebook. Tagging information from these services will sync back to your iPhoto library. The maps can also be used in new iPhoto book themes.
There will also be new slide show functionality in iPhoto 09, with themed slide show layouts. These slide shows use 3D effects and face detection to zoom in on individuals. Slide shows can then be exported to iPod or iPhone.
iMovie 09 will feature a precision editor and advanced drag-and-drop. There will also be advanced themes and animated travel maps. You can apply interesting effects as well, including things like image stabilization, aged film and cartoon effects.
GarageBand 09 will have a whole new “Learn to Play” feature: guitar and piano lessons from instructors and well-known artists like Sting, John Fogerty, Norah Jones and Sarah McLachlan. The lessons will cost $5 a piece. Looks like you will be able to slow down and play along with the other tracks.
iDVD and iWeb will also get updates. iLife 09 will cost $79 with a $99 family pack. It will be released later this month.
iWork is also up for a new version. Keynote will get new transitions and themes. There will also be an iPhone app that lets you control your Keynote presentation from the iPhone. You’ll be able to see the slides on your iPhone, including a preview of the next slide. Swipe to move slides.
Pages will also get an update, with a full screen mode, outline view, new templates, mail merge with a Numbers spreadsheet, and the ability to type math equations. A Numbers update too with table categories, more functions and forumlas features, more charts and templates.
iWork 09 will be $79 or $99 for a family pack. But it will only cost $49 if you buy it with a new Mac. Shipping today. There will also be a box with Mac OS X, iLife and iWork for $169.
Apple is also going into beta on a project called iWork.com. This will be a online sharing space for iWork applications. You can also annotate and edit document online. iWork.com launches today. It will be free during the beta, but eventually a pay service.
Third announcement: A new 17-inch MacBook Pro. It will be the lightest 17-inch laptop. The screen will be 1920×1200. It will be less than 1 inch thin in a uniform body like the 15-inch MacBook Pro. Also: 3 USB ports, Firewire 800, glass track pad, anti-glare screen as an option. The processor is a 2.66GHz dual-core. It can take up to 8GB of memory, and comes with a GeForce 9400m video card. You can also get a 256GB solid state drive as an option. The battery life is 8 hours, with 1,000 charges. $2,799 with 320GB drive, 4GB memory. It will ship later in January.
One more announcement is new pricing and features in iTunes. Songs will be priced at either $0.69, $0.99 or $1.29. Starting today more than 8 million songs will be available in iTunes plus, which is DRM-free. By the end of the quarter, all 10 million songs will be DRM-free in 256 kbps with aac encoding.
You will also be able to purchase music over the 3G network on your iPhone, starting today. The songs will sync back to your computer.

Buy an iPhone at Walmart, save $2!
$2? What’s the big deal? Why is everyone so excited about the iPhone being at Walmart?
After all, it has been available at 250 Apple Stores in the U.S. since mid 2007. And it can be found at even more AT&T stores. But Walmart does add one very interesting aspect — besides the $2.
Walmart grew to become the nation’s largest retailer by starting outside of cities. Instead, Sam Walton but his stores in the thousands of small towns and cities across the country. They went where others wouldn’t go. Even today, when there are plenty of Walmarts in the big cities too, Walmart can be found in just about every small city and town in the U.S.
So, for Apple and the iPhone, this means that they can now reach places that the Apple Store and AT&T can’t. For instance, in my home state of Colorado, there are six Apple Stores. Five are in the Denver/Boulder area and one in Colorado Springs. But go west across the mountains and you get to Grand Junction where there you are a four hour drive from the nearest Apple Store and you were previously left with only one choice: a single AT&T store that sells the iPhone (at least according to the AT&T site). But you have three Walmarts.
Now go south to Durango, Colorado. A great place. But no Apple Store, no AT&T store. But 2 Walmarts.
You get the idea. With 5,700+ Walmarts Apple has significantly extended its iPhone sales reach.
Walmart has been known to make or break small manufacturing companies by simply deciding whether or not to stock their product. Apple’s OK with or without Walmart, but with this deal they move one step closer to dominating the smart phone market.

Some rumors are going around that Apple will release a netbook next year. But there are many reasons why this simply won’t happen. The rumors are the result of wishful thinking by people who love the concept of a netbook and would naturally like to see one from Apple.
A netbook is a small ultra-portable laptop that is very inexpensive. A typical one costs less than $500 and weighs less than 3 pounds. They have very small screens and slow, energy-efficient processors. They are called netbooks because they are primarily for email and Web surfing, not for processor-intensive applications or development.
I love them too, and wish Apple would come out with one. But here is why they probably aren’t even considering it.

So don’t hold your breath for a Mac netbook. I’m sure Apple has a iPod Touch “plus” or “pro” as a prototype somewhere, and maybe that will emerge one day. But I think the only budget Mac that will be available for a long time will be the Mini. Look for an update to that in January.