The MacWorld Expo will go on next month as usual, but without Steve Jobs. Instead Apple Senior VP Phil Schiller will make an address. I’m sure nothing ground-breaking will be announced.
In addition, Apple said this is the last time they will participate in the MacWorld Expo, which is, after all, an independent event, not something Apple owns.
Apple stated today:
…trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.
So why this change? I think it is simply that Jobs and Apple are growing tired of having to conform to an annual schedule of producing huge announcements. Instead, they’ve been working hard to prove that they can have their own “MacWorld keynote” whenever they want, as Jobs did several times over the last few years with special events held at the Apple campus.
This is probably a good year to start, too, as the lack of rumors and the recent refresh of most of the Apple Mac line and iPhones makes it obvious that Apple didn’t have anything to announce. They can’t have Jobs going up there to announce “Snow Leopard is still coming” or a new video adapter cable.
I think what we’ll see from now on is periodic events held at Apple that are also broadcast to Apple stores worldwide.
Oh, and then there will still be the WWDC — the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. But that is something Apple has complete control of. They’ve shifted the dates around for that many times, and can even be expected to skip a year here or there, as Microsoft has done with their comparable conference.
So this is probably all about Apple taking even more control over their message. Not just what that message is, but when it arrives as well.
Surveys of market share come out all the time. This week, one appeared that put Mac at almost 9 percent of all the users out there. That’s a pretty high number, considering that it wasn’t too long ago we were under 5 percent.
Even more surprising is that on the Web, Internet Explorer, the main Windows-only browser, is now under 90 percent in browser share. This means that Firefox is gaining and has a real foothold.
So looking just at the first number, consider that 9 percent. That might not be too impressive if you look at it from an OS stand-point. It means that Windows has around 90 percent. That’s extremely dominant.
But if you look at it from a hardware stand-point, it is interesting. Pretty much all of the 9 percent is Apple hardware. But of the other 91 percent, the hardware is divided into a number of manufacturers: Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, Toshiba, and so on. I haven’t seen any recent numbers, but I’d have to imagine that Apple is near the top of that list as far as machines sold.
But what the increasing Mac market share, and decreasing IE dominance, mean for us is that hopefully Windows-only Web sites and applications will be a thing of the past. Microsoft itself has shown a great commitment to this with the latest release of Office for Mac. And Electronic Arts at least seems to be trying hard to include Macs as an available platform for every new game.
I think the software industry is doing a good job of including Mac versions right alongside their Windows ones. In addition, hardware is getting better too. There are still some manufacturers that don’t seem to provide Mac drivers or support. And then there are some that do strange things like Fujitsu who offer Mac-specific scanners instead of making their scanners compatible with both Mac and Windows.
Even online media seems to be paying attention to Mac more and more — for instance both Amazon and NetFlix made sure to work on versions of their media players that work on Mac.
But Apple still has work to do to get the word out about this. For instance, I tried to convince a friend of mine to get a Mac instead of a new PC and his biggest fear is that he won’t be able to open his old Word and Excel files, even though I told him about how TextEdit can do it, iWork can do it, OpenOffice and NeoOffice can do it, and he can also get Microsoft Office for Mac for probably less cash than Office for Windows.
Until perceptions like this change, it will be harder and harder for the Mac to gain market share.
Lots of news items about Mac viruses this week, despite the fact that no new virus was involved in any of the news.
It seems that an old tech note about using multiple anti-virus software on Macs was taken as an official word that Apple is now recommending the use of anti-virus software on OS X. It looks like the first mention might have been in a Washington Post column on Dec. 1. And then it was picked up by at least 100 other journalists and bloggers.
But the recommendation was actually an Apple knowledge base article that was a year old, and simply had a modification date shown as November 21. The article was very vague, and simply states: “Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult.”
But what does that mean? Does it mean that YOU should be using multiple AV utilities? Or does “widespread use” mean that Apple encourages many vendors to provide AV utilities. Certainly the second one makes the most sense.
If there was one Windows AV program that everyone used, then virus creators would simply build viruses that would circumvent that one program. But because there are dozens of AV Windows programs out there, all being updated by different teams, it is very hard to create a virus that gets through enough of them to cause a problem. So having more than one AV program with good marketshare makes sense.
Apple has reacted quickly to this re-reporting of its knowledge base article by removing the article and declaring it inaccurate. Apple spokesperson Bill Evans told CNET that Macs don’t need anti-virus programs because “The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box.”
And lets face it, there is no threat. There is no virus infecting Macs with OS X. None.
From time to time we hear about a “new Mac virus” but it always turns out to be a proof-of-concept idea by someone, or a malicious program that requires you to go through several steps and warnings before it causes any harm — hardly “viral” by definition.
Why are Macs so immune to viruses? Well, there are several reasons.
One is that the core of Mac OS X is Darwin, which includes a lot of open source code. Open source code is generally considered more secure than closed source, because it can be reviewed by any programmer or security expert who can help improve it.
Another reason is Apple’s dedication to update Mac OS X quickly whenever a possible issue arises. Several times we’ve seen proof-of-concept malicious software appear and Apple patch OS X quickly in reaction.
Of course a big reason is also marketshare. By definition a virus needs to infect others and spread. If 90% of the personal computers out there are using Windows, then it makes more sense for virus creators to target that platform.
So how long will be be safe from viruses? I think there is considerable lag in the virus world. Any time I have had to disinfect a PC, it always seems to have viruses from years past on it — ones created in 2000, 2003, or whatever. The machine I am disinfecting is also usually very out of date, using an old copy of Windows and not updated with patches properly.
So even if we saw the first real OS X virus in 2009, I think it would take years for it to become a common problem. And that would only happen if Apple decided not to react quickly and provide us with updates, which isn’t going to happen, realistically.
So, do you need to buy some AV software for your Mac? I say no. If a real threat appeared, Apple would most likely provide us with a patch and a way to remove the virus. So don’t waste your money.
AV software and the Mac vs. PC debate are heated subjects. If you agree or disagree, leave a comment below and let me know what you think.
Chaperoning elementary school field trips is something every parent should try to do. You’re pretty lucky, though, when your first call to do one is a visit to the Apple Store.
Apparently some Apple Stores offer opportunities to allow schools to bring in classes. The employees then teach something age-appropriate using the Macs in the store.
In this case, we brought about 17 kids in and they divided them up, two per Mac. They actually used MacBooks, MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs. This was done with the sample machines scattered in the store for customers to play with.
For this first grade class, the tasks were simple. First, they had them open up Photo Booth. The kids had a blast taking pictures of themselves, especially when they were shown the special effects.
Then they opened up Pages. I thought it was weird to have them work with a program from iWork, but it was basically an introduction to publishing, and iWork is the publishing tool.
The kids were shown how to make shapes on the page, and then drag their photos from the PhotoBooth panel to the shapes. They then added a bit of text, usually talk bubbles.
While all the kids had experience with computers before, most seemed a little uncomfortable with the track pad as they are used to mice. But instructions like “drag the triangle along the slider to zoom out the picture” were understood easily.
It is obvious what the goal was here for Apple — get the kids to come home with their printouts and “certificate” and talk to their parents about how cool the Apple Store was. Maybe even force a detour into the Apple Store the next time the family goes to the mall.
From the school’s side of things, there was some benefit as well. I think it was a pretty comparable experience to an in-school computer class — at least at the first grade level. The kids gained a little more knowledge about what computers can do and how to use them.
So it was a win-win. A win-win-win if you count me in there. I mean, how often do you get to participate in a school field trip, do some research for work, and have a good time all at once?
Back in January of 2007 when the iPhone was announced, many people cheered. People cheered the touch screen. People cheered the beautiful design. People cheered the fact that the rumors were right.
I cheered what Steve Jobs said about the built-in Safari Web browser: that it would allow you to surf the real Web. In other words, that it would be a real Web browser, capable of displaying Web pages just like a Mac or PC.
So the new MacBook Pros have lots of upgrades: faster processor, better video chips, more standard memory and hard drive space, a snazzy new aluminum shell. But they have one downgrade: the video port.
The new MacBook Pros, like all the MacBooks, now use a Mini DisplayPort for external video. While this is supposed to be a industry-standard can-do-anything port, it is a poor substitute for the DVI port on the older MacBook Pros.
For one, there are almost no monitors in existence that support Mini DisplayPort. The new 24 inch Apple monitor does, but the old ones do not. So you need an adapter. No problem, right? Just use the adapter that comes with the MacBook Pro. But wait, no adapters come with it at all.
So Apple decides to move forward to use a very new type of video port, and then doesn’t even give us the adapters that they used to include.
So you can get a VGA or a DVI adapter, purchased separately. But large monitors, such as the 30 inch Apple Cinema display, and any 30 inch monitor, require a Dual-Link DVI adapter. The plain DVI one won’t do.
So Apple has a third adapter: Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter. Check it out. It is $100! Worse, it isn’t even available yet. And it will use both the Mini DisplayPort and a whole USB port for power.
So there is currently no way to hook up a new MacBook Pro to a 30 inch monitor. This sort of configuration is common among media professionals like myself who like the portability of a MacBook Pro, but need to have a huge desktop when working in programs like Flash, PhotoShop or Final Cut.
It makes me appreciate the Dual-Link DVI built into the side of my current MacBook Pro. And it made me forget about ordering a new MacBook Pro, at least for the time being.
Looks like we’ve been given an early holiday present by Apple: a break from the Apple rumor mill. Apple made an official statement this week that there will be no updates to product lines before the end of the year. No new iMacs or Mac Minis, which is the opposite of what we’ve heard on Apple rumor sites.
Now the reason for such an unusual announcement is obvious: Apple wants to sell some product for the holidays and they want the selling to start now. Rumors of new product updates always get people waiting instead of buying, hoping to avoid buying a computer just before a new version comes out.
So this may be the perfect time to buy, knowing you’ve got at least two months ahead where your purchase will remain the latest and greatest.
Of course early January brings MacWorld, where Apple traditionally announces something new. New iMacs and a Mac Mini update or replacement are likely there. But that’s a long time to wait if you need a new machine.
This week saw some minor software updates to Mac OS X Leopard, such as iPhoto print quality fixes. Make sure you run Software Update to download and install.
On the hardware side, Apple is now shipping updated MacBook Airs, which include new new Nvidia video chip set, the same ones in the new MacBook Pros and MacBooks.
The iPhone OS version 2.2 is getting closer. It was spotted on the net several times this week. Improvements seem to be the inclusion of Google Maps street view feature in the Maps application, and possibly the ability to download podcast episodes directly to the iPhone. It is frustrating now when you know a new episode of a podcast is available but you have to download it on your Mac and sync to get it on your iPhone. And street view arrives just in time as it is being touted as one of the ways that the Google Android mobile phone is better than the iPhone. At the same time the free Google Earth iPhone app was released this week. It’s more of a toy than anything else, but it can be a fun distraction when you have spare time and only your iPhone to entertain you.
AT&T once again seems to offer free WiFi at AT&T hotspots like Starbucks for iPhone users. They have started and stopped this service without announcements before. So we’ll see if it sticks around this time.
Everyone is in agreement that the new MacBooks look great. But almost everyone is also in agreement that the biggest problem with the new MacBooks is the removal of a Firewire port. The MacBook Pros have one, but not the new MacBooks.
The primary use of this Firewire port was to import digital video from a camcorder. They can also be used to connect external hard drives and some other devices. But hard drives are usually USB2 nowadays, which are comparable in transfer speed to Firewire. So the main problem with not having Firewire on the new MacBooks is in connecting camcorders.
But Steve Jobs defended this move, saying that many new camcorders use USB2 anyway. This is surprisingly true. I haven’t bought a new camcorder in about 2 years, and then Firewire was the standard. But looking around now, I see that USB2 has indeed moved into this area. There are still Firewire connectors on some camcorders, but USB2 does seem to have taken over.
In addition, the home video camcorder market has changed. Nowadays, any decent digital camera has a video mode that captures at least 640×480 video at 30 frames per second. The quality isn’t pro-level, or even Web video level in many cases, but it is definitely family reunion video level. And these videos are transferred to your computer via USB2, or using a card reader. Also, with the popularity of small, cheap video cameras like the Flip, many people are forgetting about consumer-level camcorders all together in favor of this cool little devices.
So the only problem I see is the situation where someone who has a Firewire-only camcorder buys a new MacBook to replace an old one. Now they find they can no longer connect the two. Their upgrade has turned into a downgrade. And with no expansion slot on a MacBook, and no way to adapt USB2 to Firewire, they really are stuck. There is just no way to use Firewire on their new MacBook.
So existing MacBook users that use their MacBooks with a Firewire camcorder need to either get a new camcorder or upgrade to a MacBook Pro, not a MacBook.
Looking at it from Apple’s point of view, I do see this taking care of one problem: how to differentiate the MacBooks from the MacBook Pros. In the past, the case has been different, as well as the video chips. Now that they are the same, we’ve got Firewire, expansion slot, and larger screen, to name the major differences.
So the good news is it will be easier to choose between MacBooks and MacBook Pros. The bad news is that if you really want Firewire, you’re going to have to pay a lot more for it. But with a difference in price of $700, you can afford to replace that old camcorder with a new one anyway.
Summary: Jobs announced new MacBook Pros, a new 24-inch display, and new MacBooks. He also announced an update for the MacBook Air. The new MacBooks and MacBook Pros feature a new style of construction where the the aluminum body is carved from a single block. They include new Nvidia graphics chips for better video performance, and a new mini display port. There is also a new glass trackpad that supports multi-touch for gestures and the entire trackpad is a the button.
Here was the play-by-play:
10:05 Steve Jobs comes on stage and introduces Tim Cook, the Apple COO.
10:08 Cook talking about the success of Mac taking more market share over the last few years.
10:10 Cook says Mac actually has 31% market share when you measure in revenue.
10:12 Jobs introduces Jonathan Ive, Apple VP and lead designer to talk about MacBook design.
10:15 Ive talking about building notebooks by taking a single piece of aluminum and carving parts out of it.
10:17 Start with a 2.5 pound piece of aluminum and end up with a single .25 pound piece.
10:20 Jobs now talking about the Nvidia 9400M chipset, which will provide video and a GPU, 5 times faster than the current MacBook integrated video.
10:22 New MacBooks will feature a multi-touch glass trackpad, where the entire trackpad is the button.
10:23 New trackpad will include multi-touch gestures and multiple button support through software.
10:24 New MacBook Pro: Glass LED-backlit screen, connectors on one side only, mini display connector, new trackpad, new graphics chips, new rigid aluminum body built with new technique.
10:25 Also: Backlit keyboard, iSight and mic, magnetic latch, motion sensor.
10:26 New mini port connector will be on all new Macs?
10:29 NVIDIA GeForce 9400M or the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M.
10:31 Will include Firewire 800, two USB, mini display port, audio in and out, ExpressCard 34, and a battery indicator. No Firewire 400 (But you can use an adapter). Have slot-loading superdrive.
10:33 Option for Solid State Drive. Can access the drive and battery through lid at bottom.
10:34 .95 inches thick.
10:35 Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11n.
10:36 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 3MB L2 Cache, 2GB Memory, 250GB hard drive and SuperDrive for $1999.
10:36 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 6MB L2 Cache, 4GB Memory, larger hard drive and SuperDrive for $2499. Also better video chips.
10:38 Shipping today!
10:39 Upgrading MacBook Air: Nvidia 9400M, 120GB drive, mini display port (November)
10:40 New 24-inch display with 1920×1200, iSight, mic, stereo speakers, 3-port USB, $899 (November)
10:41 New MacBooks: Nvidia 9400M, mini display port, glass screen, multi-touch trackpad, new construction technique like the MacBook Pro, better battery life.
10:44 2.0 GHz processor model with 160GB drive for $1299 and 2.4 GHz for with 250GB drive for $1599.
10:45 Old white plastic MacBook still on sale for $999. MacBooks on sale today, in stores tomorrow.
10:46 Video shown about new MacBook and manufacturing process.
10:52 Jobs jokes about health, shows current blood pressure on screen (110/70).
10:53 Q&A session.
10:54 Display Port used instead of HDMI because HDMI can’t drive 30-inch monitor.
10:56 Blu-ray left out because it is too hard to license it.
10:58 17-inch MacBook Pro will also be refreshed, but later.
11:00 Only glass screens, no more matte ones in the future.
11:02 Jobs says touch screens don’t make sense yet.
11:03 No Mac “netBook” yet as market is too new.
The Apps in the Apps Store are a huge success. There has been just the outpouring of creativity and innovation that everyone expected. But the App Store itself is very inadequate.
First of all, try navigating around in it. Slow and sometimes just unresponsive. But that is par for the course when you consider the music store has always been that way. The iTunes store works as an online store, but it could work a lot better, especially considering it is a specialized piece of software communicating with a specialized server.
Second, it clearly does not meet the needs of the developers or the users. Consider how many developers right now are communicating with their audience through updating the description of the app. Notes are sometimes changed daily with little messages about updates and such. Clearly the description area is not where this should be. Perhaps a notes, messages or developer mini-blog are needed. Perhaps the store just needs to make it clearer to users that they should visit the developer’s Web site for information like this.
Two-way communication also seems to be a problem. Users are using reviews as a way to talk to the developer. Maybe this is because developers are being unresponsive? Or maybe it is because there is no clear line of communication between the developer and the users. Or maybe it is because the barrier to entry for a developer is so low that a single person can soon find themselves with tens or hundreds of thousands of paying customers, but no system in place to respond to requests.
What is clear is that reviews should be reviews. That needs to be fixed. Apple already fixed it somewhat by requiring that you purchase the product in order to leave a review.
Perhaps the App store should be taken out of iTunes altogether and put on the Web where it can be faster, presumably. We’ve done it at MacMost, sort of, by creating our own iPhone Apps directory. I enjoy using it myself just because I can quickly and clearly see what apps are new each day.
Since the launch of the iTunes App store for iPhone and iPod Touch apps, there has been a ton of attention given to iPhone Apps. Having so many third-party developers pour their creativity into applications that run on the little iPhone is creating a renaissance in the world of software development.
As a user, it is also a great thing. Every day new and interesting apps appear in the iTunes store that could be useful. The iPhone gets more and more powerful with every app release.
But I’ve been disappointed in the experience of finding iPhone apps. The iTunes store is not a great way to find things — whether it is apps or music.
I dreamed of an iPhone app directory that would show me what’s new and allow me to sort and filter.
So I built one. Announcing the MacMost iPhone Apps Directory. I’d consider it to be in beta stage now, but it is still pretty powerful. For once thing, it makes it a lot faster and easier to check to see what’s new, or to just see what apps have just been updated.
Anyway, check it out and send some feedback. I’ll be adding some more features soon.
Go to the iPhone Apps Directory.
When Steve Jobs announced that the big new feature in iTunes 08 was Genius, a music recommendation service, I, and many others, said: “Huh.”
First of all, this sort of technology has been around for a long long time. It was years (6, 8?) ago that I first used Amazon’s feature to find similar artists based on what people bought. I used that to discover new artists, in fact. More recently, Pandora has introduced some very sophisticated music matching techniques that suggest new music based on the music itself. I’ve also used sites like AllMusic.com to find out which artists I may like.
But Genius fails in a way that Apple is usually very good at — it really feels like it is selling you something. I feel that it is pushing me to buy music, not suggesting music I may like.
It reminds me of my high school job, which was working at a record store. Now I worked at a cool record store. We didn’t go out onto the floor and bother people by trying to sell them more records. (By the way, by “records” I do mean vinyl). But at other stores you’d get some kid trying to suggest something: “Have you heard the latest Smithereens album?”
Genius feels like that. I feel like telling it: “Don’t bother me, kid, I know what I want.”
And what is with the name? A “genius” is how you would describe someone who takes one song and then suggests others? That’s not a “genius” — that’s just Jack Black in High Fidelity.
I’d at least expect it to be smarter than Amazon or Pandora, but most of the suggestions I got were just for other songs by the same artist. And it doesn’t even seem to know that Anna Waronker was in That Dog — there are no suggestions between them.
And what happens if I select a Beatles song? I can’t find anything! That’s weird on so many levels.
And it has nothing to do with my Beatles songs coming from CD instead of the iTunes store — most of my music is that way. It may have to do with The Beatles not being sold on iTunes, but as a music lover I don’t really care about Apple’s legal issues.
Anyway, I’m sure that Genius will help Apple sell more music. It can’t hurt, right? I’m sure that was part of their reasoning.
But now that I’m not reviewing it, I’m turning it off.
So two bits of Spore news. The first is that the iPhone version will not be released until later this month. All reports previously had mentioned that it would be out the same day as the full PC/Mac game.
The second is that the game isn’t “Spore” but “Spore Origins.” It appears to be similar to the first part of the full PC/Mac game where you evolve a single organism floating around in a primordial ooze.
We’ve got to point out how we predicted this back in March in the post Why We Won’t Really See Spore on the iPhone. The second bit of news, in the same press release by EA, is that the game will use the iPhone-specific controls: the motion sensor, and pinching and pulling on the multi-touch screen. This should make for a unique experience on the iPhone and iPod Touch. There are supposed to be 2 modes and 35 levels — we’ll see what that means when the game comes out.
Meanwhile, Spore Origins has been released for the iPod Video, Classic and iPod Nano third-generation.
Electronic Arts also announced several other titles for the iPhone in the same press release, but no specific release dates: Yahtzee Adventures, EA Mini Golf, Lemonade Tycoon, Mahjong, Monopoly: Here & Now The World Edition, SimCity, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09, Need for Speed Undercover, and The Sims 3. SimCity, in particular could be a powerful game on the iPhone.
Update: Spore Origins is out and costs $9.99 at the iTunes App Store. It is basically just the first part of Spore, where you float around in the primordial ooze.
Next month Comcast cable modem customers will have to start watching their bandwidth. The large Internet provider has announced that they will limit users to 250GB per month of data transfer. Previously, users have had unlimited data transfer, although there are many reports of heavy users being kicked off the service when they hit an invisible limit.
Now 250GB is a lot of data. If you downloaded one HD movie per day, at 5GB per movie, it would add up to 150GB. If you streamed live video at .5MB per second for two hours each day, it would be about 216GB. If you downloaded a new version of your entire operating system every day, it would be about 180GB.
So 250GB is hard to hit. Now. For most people. But soon it will be easier. And we want it to be easier. People are creating more and more content — video content — for online distribution. It is not hard to subscribe to 10, 20 or even 50 video podcasts, updating each day or week, all with hundreds of MB or even GB in file size.
And the idea from the creator’s side is to get viewers. People are trying all sorts of different shows: news programs, comedy, vlogs, commentary, artistic, etc. This is a renaissance period for video, where all it takes is an idea, talent and hard work to make something, not a million dollar budget.
But if a large portion of the Internet audience suddenly starts watching their bandwidth, counting each byte for fear of losing their Internet connection, then they will stop download video because it looks interesting. They will get more picky, sticking with what they know and avoiding new things.
And this won’t just stay with Comcast. Since they took the first step, expect others to follow. Other cable providers will look at this as a way to set bandwidth limits without causing a fuss, because Comcast did it first. And competing services like DSL will do the same, claiming that they need to match Comcast’s service terms to remain competitive.
And don’t forget that Internet video is the primary reason, I’m sure, for this bandwidth cap. Or at least it will be the primary victim. And what is Comcast’s primary business? Video. So this is an anti-competitive move. There is no bandwidth limit on Comcast’s video services, only on the Internet, which competes with Comcast’s cable channels.
So we might be seeing the beginning of the end here. The end to innovation and creativity in Internet video. Soon it may require big budgets again, at least in marketing, to get your video noticed by the bandwidth-strangled public. Noticed enough that they are willing to spend some of their precious byte allotment to risk seeing if your show is worthwhile.
A lot of tech journalists this week are talking about computer maker Psystar’s counter lawsuit against Apple. Psystar has been making and selling Mac clones for a few months now. They put together standard PC parts and install Mac OS X on it. The only problem being that Apple doesn’t allow Mac OS X to be installed on non-Mac computers, according to the license.
So it was only a matter of time before Apple sued to stop Psystar. What’s interesting is that Psystar is fighting back by claiming that Apple has created an illegal monopoly by insisting that Mac OS X only gets to run on Apple-made hardware.
So this brings up the question: Why doesn’t Apple like Psystar and other manufacturers install OS X on their machines? After all, it is a sale for Apple.
Apple did do this for a while in the 90s. And it didn’t help Apple much at all. Those clones were a little cheaper, but quality was an issue. Steve Jobs put a stop to it as soon as he returned to Apple.
I think quality is again the issue. OS X has an advantage over Windows. Windows needs to know how to run on a lot of different hardware configurations: processors, video cards, sound cards, motherboards, buses, etc. But OS X only needs to run using a very finite set of these things. This allows Apple to spend less time getting OS X to work on every possible configuration, and more time getting it to work well on the configurations that they know and control.
I think the plan is to make sure that OS X is a good experience for users, wherever OS X runs. ANd if it is allowed to run on non-Apple hardware, then Apple looses control over that experience.
I think the guys at Apple are smart and have run the numbers. They see they can make a little more by selling OS X to other manufacturers, but that they will loose customer satisfaction in the long run.
I don’t see a monopoly here, I see the opposite. You can choose between Windows, OS X and Linux. The first is a general operating system not tied to hardware. The second is an OS that is built for specific hardware. The third is an open source solution that can be adapted to fit a need. The market has produced three different operating systems that are distinctly different, and yet all allow you to person the same basic tasks on a personal computer.
I just got back from the Digg Townhall event at the Big Tent set up for the DNC here in Denver. Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose updated the community live via a video feed about upcoming changes to Digg.com and also fielded many questions submitted by the community.
This isn’t too exciting. There’s none of the humor of Diggnation nor the coolness of Digg itself. But it is interesting to see what they have in store.
But what is interesting is the whole idea of reaching out to the community to steer the future of Digg. What other Web 2.0 company does that? Some, I’m sure, but I can’t think of any right now. Twitter seems to like to keep its users in the dark. FaceBook doesn’t make this kind of effort.
And this isn’t a halfhearted attempt at communication, either. They could have made someone the “head of community interaction” and sent them around to do townhall meetings. But instead the CEO and the founder do it. This lends credibility behind statements like “we’re working on that.”
I’d like to see other Web companies try townhall events. They probably don’t because they are afraid people will use it as a way to bitch about bugs and missing features. They will. That’s the point. And you can use that sort of feedback to make yourself better.
So we’re fairly sure there are going to be some Apple announcements soon. Some say on September 9th. But what? Rumors hint toward a shake-up of a product line. But which line and how big of a shake-up?
We’ve got the MacBook line, rumored to be ditching the white and black plastic for aluminum. Not much would differentiate the MacBook and the MacBook Pro then, just some larger numbers for the pro. They would essentially become one line, not two.
It does get confusing now with the MacBook Air in the mix. There are a lot of people not sure which one to get. One is cheap, the other is light, and the third is powerful. But if you want cheap and light, or light and powerful, or cheap and powerful, then you are out of luck. A line of smaller, cheap MacBooks and a line of heavier, powerful and more expensive ones would make sense, but I don’t see that happening so soon after the launch of the Air.
The iMac line is in a similar spot. I don’t see that it is time for a redesign, and there aren’t that many people asking for a more powerful iMac at the moment.
We just got the new iPhone, and and iPod Touch redesign to look like the new iPhone isn’t very exciting.
That leaves the iPod. I think this is where it is at, and it seems the rumors are strong here. A new Nano with a larger screen is the most popular rumor right now.
I see something a little more — something that would make more sense anyway. I think Apple will drop the name “Nano” and just call it the iPod. Think about it: there is no “iPod” right now. There are: iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Touch and iPod Classic. For the holidays, it would probably be best for Apple if people could just wish for an “iPod” and shoppers could just buy an “iPod.”
So my thinking is that the new Nano will be called the “iPod.” The shuffle will remain, as will the Touch and the Classic. The only purpose of the Classic at this point is the large hard drive, so it will probably stay at the current configuration for a while and then go away after flash-based iPods reach 64/96GB in storage.
Then, of course, there is the Apple TV. Be interesting if they threw a curve ball and surprised everyone with a new Apple TV. But I don’t think that will happen.
So that leaves the idea of a new product, but something that will be close enough to an existing product like to “shake it up.” So everyone is back to the idea of a touch-screen Mac of some sort. iMac Touch? MacBook Touch? Or a new tablet device that is half-way between an iPod Touch and a MacBook?
What do YOU think? Leave a comment!
NOTE: This is an old article. The ringtones are no longer available via podcast. You can download them all directly here: http://macmost.com/free-iphone-ringtones.
So it looks like putting our MacMost free iPhone ringtones in the iTunes store as a free podcast was a good idea. A lot of people have subscribed. I wanted to do a short blog post about how to get these ringtones on to your iPhone.
1. Go to our iPhone ringtones page at http://macmost.com/iphoneringtones/ and click on the “subscribe to the free iPhone ringtones feed as a podcast” link. This will open iTunes and take you right to the subscription page. Note that iTunes will not show you the ringtones in the list of episodes — a bug in iTunes. But they are there. Click on the Subscribe button.
2. In iTunes, under the Library heading on the left, look for “Podcasts.” Click on that and then look for “MacMost iPhone Ringtones” in the list on the right. Click on the triangle to the left of that to see all of the items under that podcast.
3. Press the Get button next to each of the items you want to add. Or, press the Get All button at the top of the list.
4. Plug your iPhone in to your computer. Let it sync with iTunes.
5. Click on the iPhone in the iTunes list on the left, under Devices. Now you should see your iPhone settings in the main iTunes area. Click on the Podcasts tab.
6. Set your iPhone to sync all episodes of all Podcasts. Or, alternatively, set it to sync only the podcasts you want. Either way, you must have it set to sync ALL episodes. If you set it so it only syncs the X most recent episodes of your podcast, you will not get some or any of the ringtones.
6a. Alternatively, you could create a Smart Playlist by choosing File, Create Smart Playlist. Set the options so the “Kind” contains “Ringtones” and Live Updating is turned on. Then select the Music tab of your iPhone settings and make sure that the new Smart Playlist is set to sync to your iPhone.
7. Re-sync your iPhone to send the ringtones to it.
7a. Some people have reported that you must have at least one ringtone in your iTunes library for ringtones to appear on the left side of iTunes and for ringtones to sync at all. So you may need to download a free ringtone here and drag and drop it into your iTunes library.
8. In the Settings app of your iPhone, click on Sounds to set you default ringtone. You can also go into the Contacts app to set a specific ringtone for some of your contacts.
9. Go back to iTunes and write a review!
Also: If you are still having trouble, please contact us via email and we’ll be glad to help. You can also just go to the iPhone Ringtones page and download any ringtone individually and add them to iTunes without subscribing to the podcast. So you have plenty of options.
Enjoy the free ringtones!
I don’t mind MacMost being labeled as a “fanboy” site. I am an Apple fan. But it doesn’t mean I think everything the company does it right. Here are five things I think Apple should do differently.
1. The iPhone should be on more carriers. They shouldn’t have an exclusive deal with AT&T. We should have all the major mobile companies in the U.S. and elsewhere competing to give us the best price and service. The bottom line would be more iPhone sales and happier iPhone owners.
2. MobileMe should be free and better. The price of admission for MobileMe should be simply owning a Mac or an iPhone. And MobileMe should have features like Blogger, FaceBook and Flickr. MobileMe as an Apple-only social network would be a huge hit and would drive Mac sales like crazy.
3. The iTunes store should ban DRM. Apple should use its market-leading position to put an end to DRM. I’ve been buying music exclusively on CD and at DRM-free sites like Amazon. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
4. New versions of Mac OS X should have an upgrade price. Paying full ticket price to upgrade isn’t reasonable.
5. Make Apple TV more useful by making rentals good for 36 hours and adding some basic RSS-reading Web-browsing functionality. Add a BluRay/DVD player to it for $100 more. To make it really great, add DVR functions.
