Last week Apple sent out an invitation postcard with the words "One more thing..." printed on the front to every major news and media broadcaster. It stated that on Wednesday, October 12th, they would be holding a very important news conference. Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs is well known for giving long drawn out speaches that go over Apples sales figures and what not and then in the last five minutes or so in his presentation he'll say "one more thing" and pull out something huge. One example being the iPod Nano.
So they had the big announcement today. Most people thought that it would probably be an iPod Video, and they were right. But thats not the only thing. They also showed off a new iMac design that's thinner than before, has a built-in iSight webcam, and uses a system called Frontrow with a remote control to access all your music on iTunes, pictures in iPhoto, watch dvds, and even connects directly to the apple website to watch the latest movie trailers without a single browser or mouse click.
The third and biggest announcement in my mind was that they would now be offering tv shows for download on iTunes. Right now they have a signed deal with Disney to have shows like Lost, Desperate Housewives, and 3 others. The day after these shows air you can go online and download them if you missed them. They only cost 1.99, and can be viewed on your computer or on your iPod. They even have a back catalogue of previous episodes, also only 1.99 each. And ofcourse there are even more deals in the works and more shows can be expected to be added to the site as these deals are made.
After watching the presentation on the Apple website, I really have to know, why do so many of you still support Windows to the bitter end? I think Apple may have just killed the PSP.
we support windows because of compatability. and uh, lets see. i dont fucking pay for downloads
and apple has a habbit of putting out useless shit anyway. whoopi, heres the new ipod nano, for all the people who dont have an ipod shuffle, an ipod mini, or any one of the many generations of ipod already out there. oh, and lets add a video ipod to the mix. you know, just to piss off our consumers. ive got an idea for apple: fix the shit you already have out there. the playback on all of apples ipods are TERRIBLE, howbout some gapless playback apple?
so why dont i support apple? apple is all about style over substance, and thats bullshit
yea i missed my evening design lecture for this announcement. pretty much my whole uni are Apple lovers so my guess is they didn't turn up either! they were all expecting the G5 PowerBook *fools*. didn't expect to see a media centre iMac.
Yea the only thing the PSP had going for it (well, the thing it did better than anything else) was its video playback. looks like its lost that now.
I stopped using Windows because I was just sick of its problems. Sure it has more games but for me it ended there. there was just a realisation that I dont play the latest greatest PC games, or if they did they were on Mac. So i figured i was due for a new machine, i had enough of bulky PC laptops and saw the little 12" PowerBook and thought "yup... thats fer me!". and bought a new iPod mini to go with it. what i love is people flaming the iPods battery life when my mini (and even iLounge.com's) battery lasts for 26 hours and the sound quality is unbelievable with Shure E3 headphones. I honestly dont know what people are on about with the iPods poor sound quality. if it was so poor why do so many audiophiles get some Bose or Shure headphones for it? wouldn't they make the poor sound more obvious?
Brad you probably forgot to mention that Apples computer marketshare jumped up from 4.2% to 6.something%. anyways it was an increase in 50%. for a computer manufacturer to jump that much in a year is pretty damned amazing. every year they sell more and more machines. the intel macs are going to be massive, probably the best move apple could make barring licensing out their bullet-proof OS. Especially when Rosetta runs all the old PowerPC apps and Virtual PC will run Windows at lightening speeds. so pretty much the next Apple machines are going to run PowerPC apps, x86 Mac OS apps and x86 Win apps. i think my mate Joel kinda hit the nail on the head with "you'd have to be stupid to buy a windows PC!"
but each to their own i suppose.
"so why dont i support apple? apple is all about style over substance, and thats bullshit"
is that like saying Windows is all games over security problems? I remember reading about a Microsoft exec who said himself that "Windows is broken".
My phone can already play mp3s and video (176x144, 15fps, mp4 files), and has 1GB of storage. Apple's products are certainly cool, but like Chicken said, they focus way too much on style over substance. How about getting some software support on their computers before giving me another edition of the iPod? If I wanted to buy something underpowered, overpriced, and shiny, I'd get a Ford Mustang. At least I can pick up chicks in that. I can't say the same about an iPod or a Mac. </rambling>
I dont see why so many people have so many problems with Windows. I mean I still continue to hear people complaining about WindowsXP & SP2, when I have yet to have any problems with it at all. It never locks up on me, & my programs always seem to work the way they should. Keeping things clean & having more then half your brain cells, there should be no reason why WindowsXP wouldnt be a good choice, its just to many people by into so many spyware downloading ads & those "free screensavers". That & the fact that unless you seriously know what your doing, unless you have SP2, dont use IntenetExplorer. FireFox doesnt have activex capability, meaning you are atleast 70% less likely to accidently walk into a spyware trap.
Anyway, when it comes down to it, I'm sticking with Windows, & the only thing I use on Windows that has anything to do with Apple is iTunes. Microsoft may not be the best, but Windows is overall better IMO. Plan & Simple.
Pete Nattress Cheesy Bits img src/uploads/sccheesegif
Registered 23/09/2002
Points 4811
13th October, 2005 at 12:54:17 -
"I think Apple may have just killed the PSP."
Right. Because this new iPod plays games with a graphical quality to almost rival a PlayStaion 2? And it has wireless connectivity too, right?
I don't get the whole fuss about mobile video. I for one don't want to be squinting at a tiny screen all day trying to see some ultra-low res copy of a TV show which I could just download or watch on TV anyway.
Also, the whole Mac vs PC debate is tired. I use a PC because of compatibility, simple. If the Mac becomes compatible with all my software and what I want to do then I'll certainly consider getting one.
oh yeh when i read that it was about mac and it was you who posted i remembered...oh yeh its the friendly natomic guy who i used to chat with under the name akira and he said he hasnt used win for a long time so he hasnt touched mmf for very long but he will once mmf 2 is out but so far he really loves mac.
well the problem is that i sadly have get used to macs even if i HATE them with a passion if i want to have some design job. HELL YEH I LOVE my windows. that might sound like bullshit but i think i do because there is NOTHING better and thats my opinion.
Whats so wrong about windows at all?
What I hate about Mac (I could name a lot of things but i already forgot them because i stopped to point them out since everybody hated me for doing so):
The MAC OS is just not logical. Thats what I hate about it. You can't really navigate and move fast on any MAC OS and the dock is a piece of crap. In win my taskbar shows me the folders I have currently opened and I can get to whereever I want to within seconds. If I save a picture in PS I am not allowed to give it as many characters as I want to because the poor mac browser wont get that then (at least thats what PS CS 2 tells me). Everything gets a fucking AA. Like say I save a sprite as gif (transparent background) and safari adds AA to the sprite. HOLY FUCK. I LOVE PIXELS AND PIXEL ART- Mac seems to eliminate it whenever possible. I cant really fullscreen all windows of a program so that they fill the screen by 100%- 100% fucking percent.
All programs lie underneath eachother and like i have got ps opened and indesign and i dont have a document opened i can see the desktop through it and it happens easily that i am in the wrong program on accident.
people always love the mac because of the design: ITS FUCKING NOT LOGICAL.
The whole MAC OS looks like some flash animation full of motion tweens and so much AA that I have to throw over.
"we support windows because of compatability. and uh, lets see. i dont fucking pay for downloads"
well you can get illegal software for the mac as well. all p2p programs run on the mac. i mean the mac is shit and i hate it but if there is something not true i have to correct it.
but if you BUY A PRODUCT like normal people including me its MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE on the mac. the whole mac is more expensive.
another problem: i plug in a wacom into a mac and the mac is like omg omg wtf i am a dumb OS what should i do. so you need to find the installation cd somewhere and install it and still mac can bitch around then sometimes so it can be a pain in the ass to install a TABLET on the so great mac thats for DESIGNERS.
WIN XP: I plug my wacom into my USB and everything works fine.
Win knows most drives- Mac doesn't.
Oh and what about that aspect: Many people love video games- Video games and MAC...Lollerskates please spare me that you can play World of Warcraft and Myst on it.
"If the Mac becomes compatible with all my software and what I want to do then I'll certainly consider getting one."
start saving. starting in 2006 and ending in 2007 Mac computers will transition to Intel CPU's because IBM aren't getting much power out of PPC CPU's these days (seemingly their only produce now are CPUs for the Gamecube, Xbox 360 and Revolution). These computers will be the single most compatible publicly available computers ever. They can run original PPC Mac applications at around 75% (but with the CPU gain, they will run faster than on their old processors), native x86 Mac applications and Virtual PC will run any version of windows too, with added bonuses like state saves.
They say Apples new OS will come out at the launch of the intel macs, and just before the release of Longhorn/Vista too. now, i dont need to go on about how much Longhorn has already copied Apples 2005 OS but their 2006 one is going to be out of this world.
one last thing; about the iPod and it "underpowered, overpriced, and shiny"... I paid £150 for my 2G 6GB iPod Mini. no other company makes a mini MP3 player with 6GB, at least not back in February. it has a 26 hour battery life. its survived being dropped onto concrete from my pocket twice. yea. its obviously the worst music player ever.
Master M; consider using hotcorners with expose. thats one of the reasons i swapped to Mac, sure Taskbar shows whats open. but my bottom left corner hotspot minimizes everything so i see a thumbnail of open apps. its just lightening fast. at first i though Mac was slow, but its got such a more streamlined way of operating once you start to customise it.
and just for you Master M, seeing you want to turn this into some kind of argument or something
http://www.xvsxp.com/
unbiased views at Tiger, XP home and XP Pro. the results are very interesting.
How old is your Wacom? what version of OSX are you using? OSX is renowned for working effortlessly with Wacom. i've used 3 different models on my machine. nay a single problem!
heh I should have said this just after Master M's comments. but seriously I'm up for a discussion about Windows and Macs anyday. but when you get 'tards acting up then you do start to wonder at the maturity level nevermind!
seriously why cant Brad just say what he has too without backfire? maybe those interested can just say "yey for Apple" if they like Apple? instead of jumping to the clichéd "MAC OSEX SUXXORZ!!! HAHAH lol"
i think i'll go argue to my dogs instead.
...or is the world not big enough for more than 1 computer brand? or perhaps hey, people want a different OS? or maybe they just like their iPods. OMGZERERA no!
OKAY
I watched the video and these are my thoughts:
I would love to see Steve Jobbs when somebody shows him all the filters Photo Shop comes with. That’s fucking child’s play.
Did somebody count how often he said "great" and "fantastic". Well you can tell that he is really in love with his products.
I am wondering how much Apple got from all the bands and movies they show. This is like the most shameless surreptitious advertising I have ever seen in my entire life.
" I for one don't want to be squinting at a tiny screen all day trying to see some ultra-low res copy of a TV show which I could just download or watch on TV anyway"
They are actually at pretty high res, I downloaded the first episode of lost and watched it in full screen on my 1280 x 854 widescreen powerbook and it looked perfect.
The fact is that I enjoy using my Mac because it is more stylish. It's clean, it doesn't have a million start up items that I have to keep on or risk having a virus attack.. i don't have to deal with updates from hundreds of different developers. Personally I like the fact that I can go in the top left corner of my screen and check for updates to just about every peice of software on my computer in the click of a button. I like the fact that before anything can be installed on my computer I have to enter my password. I like the fact that I don't have to spend hours getting rid of the same viruses every month. And I really like that if I want to connect to the internet all I have to do is plug in my ethernet cable. Network Neighborhood is such a mess.
what Brad said, and zero config wireless networks. i just turned on my Powerbook. went through all that rigmarole of naming your machine and it had configured everything and updated to the latest software before it got to the desktop.
30 odd second boot up times are a blessing. funny how my 3ghz P4 cant match a CPU at half its speed.
meh, its all little things that add up.
YAY, extremely fan based item againest another extremely fan based item debate. WOW. While we're here, just for fun, xbox sucks, ps2 sucks, nintendo sucks. Now shhh....
P.S. When it's been talked about so much that there is an ENTIRE website about it, then it's done guys. It's over. Go play something.
thinking is like pong, it's easy, but you miss sometimes.