Posts under Tag: apple
Apple has confirmed just today that they will be unveiling “Something you can see and touch.” Along with the invites to the event on March 7th (where the heck is our invite – C’Mon Apple what gives?) at 10AM PT, 1PM EST in San Fran CA, Apple sent along a photo (pictured on the right) of what definitely looks like an iPad. We are tingling with anticipation to see what improvements have been made if it is indeed an iPad, Can anyone say Retina Display, bigger screen, maybe a little 4G LTE… One thing is for sure Apple has not ever been known to disappoint and we know this will be no exception, so tighten your boot strap and buckle because we are in for something totally awesome…
Have you seen Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab 10.1 – oh what’s that you say? – oh yes it is in fact the tablet that looks exactly like the iPad 
– since you thought so you are indeed very clever because Apple and the ever so incredible Mr. Steve Jobs thinks so too. So much so in fact that they have felt compelled to go after Samsung and stop all sales of the Galaxy in Europe. Apple just might have cut them a break and looked the other way, but they just had to go and copy even the iPad’s packaging….really the packaging….if it looks like an iPad feels like an iPad and comes dressed up like an iPad – would think they want us to the Galaxy is an iPad I am sure Apple can appreciate the gesture as imitation is most definitely the best form of flattery, but really Samsung…the packaging…that’s taking the Galaxy to the stalker tablet level. What this will mean for the Galaxy tablet is unclear, but it should be fun to watch the two go at it….I mean what can Samsung say…reallly. Steve Jobs and 30 geek bystanders to Samsung – “Dude, it looks like an iPad! ” Samsung – “Na UH our is heavier!”
There are tons of Verizon subscribers out there just itching for an iPhone. Those of you that fall in this group have suffered from numerous rumors about the iPhone being made as a CDMA phone only to have the dates pushed or for the rumors to be false. I as much as anyone else do eventually expect to see a CDMA phone, but beware of the CDMA spec as it is likely to cripple the iPhone for all of you. As it is right now CDMA cannot do dual voice and data. That is to say that many of the things that make the phone useful (looking up directions while on the phone with someone for example) cannot be multitasked.
Of course they are working on a solution to this but until they figure it out Apple may not want to release a CDMA version of the phone. Apple is a stickler when it comes to meeting user experiences and if the dual voice/wireless access solution isn’t found soon I expect the phone will be delayed. As always there’s a good discussion in misc.phone.mobile.iphone, check it out!
Are you like me and don’t like it when apple app developers try to be funny or cute and try to change things that are standardized and working fantastically well in the first place? If so then try this little gem to correct the discombobulated minimize, maximize and close window buttons in iTunes10 – Guys if it works let it alone…Cheers!
—–Begin post—–
This is from Mac OS X Hints:
iTunes 10 provides a different layout for the Close, Minimize and Maximize
buttons. Instead of being ordered horizontally, in iTunes 10 they’re
arranged vertically, like a traffic light.
Reverting the buttons to a horizontal layout can easily be done. With
iTunes not running, open Terminal and enter the following code:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes full-window -1
To restore the vertical layout, simply use this command:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes full-window -0
–
Ok, so this last week I upgraded to iOS 4.1.
- HDR pix (haven’t played with yet)
- Game Genter (is ok for now but will get better as more games get onto it)
- Proximity bugs fixed (good as I was definitely having some bugs)
- TV show rentals (ehhh ok but not for me)
- Destruction of your photo gallery previews (yay…. wait, what the…)
Some of this is expected, the bug fixes and TV rentals. One helps things to work like they should and the other is a nice little revenue generation for Apple. Some things are useful, the HDR and Game center. Pictures with more pop will be nice as is how the Game Center is set up. The achievements and points are similar to those on the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Apple definitely continues its march into the mobile gaming space. The one thing I didn’t expect was that all of the previews for my photo gallery would suddenly turn into a bunch of black boxes. It looks like one large black cube. I’m not alone on seeing this as you can see on the Apple support forums or on misc.phone.mobile.iphone.
Hey Apple, while I love the attention to detail that you give the user interfaces that you build perhaps a bit more detail onto not messing up your user’s data?
So the event is over (Chris Martin from Coldplay? someone stab a pencil in my ear please), and tons of cool stuff has come out of it: iOS 4.2, HDR pix, Game Center, Apple TV, new music devices, Ping, and a new iTunes. Lets break these down one by one.
iOS4.2 – iPad connectivity. Great for you iPad users all about accessing the content. The printing stuff is nice (although I hate actually printing anything nowadays), but the multitasking and folders are where it’s at. They make life easier for me on the iPhone and will for you iPad users.
HDR pictures – first off if you’re unsure about what an HDR pic is, it’s basically three pictures, one with highlights, shadows, and midranges and it combines them into picures that have a greater range of color. It’s about time, better looking pix with details that pop. Good for you Flickr and Facebook posters, but even better for people who actually print them out on photo paper (yes people still do that from time to time).
Game Center – and the iPhone continues to forge ahead in the mobile gaming world. Project Sword, the Unreal engine on the phone, and oh yea things are looking good for iPhone gamers. Plus I like the fact that there will be one spot to see leader boards instead of all the competing networks like Open Feint, Crystal, and Plus+.
Apple TV – this one just makes sense. I don’t know about you but given recent news about cable subscription rates falling and from friends and family I know considering going the streaming movies and TV shows route it makes sense. Netflix is available on this and it can stream from your main computer not to mention the TV show and movie rentals it can do. I wish there was some free content available via iTunes but I’m sure that’ll get worked out one way or another.
Ping/iTunes 10 – you can’t really separate these from one another. iTunes by itself got a new logo and a slightly revamped view, not bad but no biggie itself. The real news is Ping. According to Apple “It’s like Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes. It’s all about music.” On initial glance Ping looks to be one of the rare cases where social networking can be 1) done right 2) adds value to the end user and 3) has a direct commercial tie in. It would be pretty cool to find people with similar taste in music to myself and to see what they’re listening to. It can be another great way to find music beyond Pandora (currently digging The Polish Ambassador whom I found on Pandora). I’m interested to see how it actually works.
New music devices – ehhh ok so I’m not quite so gung-ho on these. I mean ok they’re pretty cool looking and the Nano and Shuffle will probably make great stocking stuffers, but this is a declining market. As more people go with an iPhone or iPad there is little reason to deal with a secondary music device. I did the switch from one to the other two years back when I got my iPhone 3G, and forgot all about my iPod.
My faves from this event are: Ping and the HDR pictures. I only leave Apple TV out because with 3 small kiddos dropping my cable is out of the question. A loss of Team Umizoomi, Caillou, and Scooby Doo could lead to a full scale revolt, and trust me you don’t want an angry 4 yr. old to have a burning torch inside your home. For more thoughts on this you can always check out the Apple discussions going on at: misc.phone.mobile.iphone.
~ Zaaa
