I Bought a Mac » Mac in the Media

iPad – My Initial Impressions

Brent — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:58:48 +0000

[before you ditch this article, please add your iPad thoughts in the comments. We have a couple months before this thing is available, let's chat about it]

Did you see Steve’s presentation today? I didn’t as I was in route to a client meeting. Nevertheless I have read the reviews, gawked at the images and soaked up your tweets as much as any human could in my position. I have a couple thoughts about this whole iPad thing…

1. “Magical” really? Since when did magical come into marketing lingo again? It’s not all THAT magical (in my humble opinion), since we have had the iPhone and iPod Touch for several years now but ok, whatever floats your boat.

2. It’s just a big iPod Touch!!! I am just as big of an Apple enthusiast as the next guy but there’s nothing in this big device different from an iPod Touch other than size, right?

3. ok, yeah, it’s friggin sexy! I do love the sleek, sexy, awesome opportunities this larger iPod offers. I’m a dreamer and I honestly do believe in it’s future.

4. No Multitasking?!?!? WTF!?! You expect me to read my email, website, ebook, RSS feed, or whatever WITHOUT at least listening to Pandora or Last.fm? This is worth $500+ … not so sure.

5. STILL no flash!!! AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

6. Where’s my iSight? I could live without the forward facing camera (for a bit) but a letter sized iSomething without video iChat capabilities?? What the heck were you thinking??

7. I WANT ONE!!

I say #7 just to set the record straight. I most likely won’t be buying THIS version of the iPad but I do believe in the steps that Apple has made to bring this to market. It’s got all the promise of the iPhone and all the awesome that is Apple mixed with the (hopefully not last) bit of pepper Mr. Jobs has to bring to the planet. I’m all over this innovation and can’t wait to get one, but I can wait till at the very least, it gets an iSight.

That’s all I got, add your juice below…

WWDC ‘09: What Just Happened

John Fuller — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:29:39 +0000

You might be in a whirl after Apple’s announcements today at WWDC, or you’re simply looking for what happened. Here’s a breakdown of the keynote’s events:

Macbooks

Macbook Pro Updates: Updated (and better) battery using technologies in 17-inch for all MBP models, SD Card Slot replaces Express Card slot, Faster Processors maxing out at 3.06ghz, Up to 8GB DDR3 RAM. Integrated Graphics only on the 13-inch and low-end 15-inch models, advanced graphics on high-end 15-inch and all 17-inch models.
13-inch Macbooks are now apart of the Macbook Pro family, starting at $1,199. The ‘macbook’ is the white model from here on out.
Speed update and price drop to the Macbook Air
Mac users are now 75million, tripled from 2 years ago

Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard pricing is $29 for single-user and $49 for a family pack
Apple Introduces QuickTimeX – with improved UI, HTTP Streaming, export to web, improved editing, performance and quality improvements, and a brand new icon!
What we already knew: Snow Leopard introduces 64-Bit support, exchange support, OpenCL, GrandCentral
iChat has better a resolution and video quality when AV chatting; Time Machine backups are 50% faster; PDF selection is refined; Disk Eject is improved, safer; File Sharing is improved; Automatic time zone setup and automatic printer driver updates via internet
Install footprint from Snow Leopard is lighter, freeing up 6GB of space and 45% faster than Leopard
Dock Updates: New ‘Click+hold’ menu and functionality allows to operate exposé from the dock; Stacks are now scrollable and can drill into folders from within stacks
The Finder was re-written with no UI changes, but speed and performance enhancements

iPhone OS 3.0

Update will be available worldwide on June 17, free for iPhone suers and $9.95 for iPod Touch users
New Find My iPhone – MobileMe service allows users to locate their missing iPhone, make it ring (whether or not in Silent Mode), can remotely wipe iPhones
HTTP Streaming support, HTML5 Support, AutoFill in Safari, 3x Faster Javascript performance, support for audio/video tags; 30 more languages supported
Can now download TV Shows and Movies, rent Movies using the built-in iTunes app on the iPhone
Tethering Details: sharing connection via USB or Bluetooth, PC Or Mac, available by carrier support. NO AT&T SUPPORT IN THE US
Apple recapped announcements and features from the March event; had developers demo their apps with new SDK. (TomTom demo’ed new turn-by-turn app with hardware kit for car – very cool)

iPhone 3GS

Will be released on June 19th in the US and other countries, 80 countries by August. (Apple showed off a new commercial featuring the 3Gs)
iPhone 3GS is priced at $199/16gb $299/32gb. iPhone 3G 8GB will continue to sell for $99 (All prices are subject to carrier subsidization).
Battery life is improved – Internet life: now 9hrs (was 6hrs), while watching video: now 10hrs (was 7), listening to audio: 30hrs (was 24, 2G talk time: 12hrs (was 10)
New built-in compass – integrated into Maps and standalone app, orients to direction for maps, developers have access to the APIs for compass
3GS comes with text-to-speech functionality, built-in Nike+ Support, Hardware encryption, encrypted iTunes backups
Voice Control – Hold down the home button to open up voice control interface that allows you to make phone calls, see various iTunes functions, and more by using vocal commands
Video Recording – from within the Camera app, 30fps VGA, auto-foucs/white-balance/exposure. Video Editing and sharing from within the iPhone – send via MMS
Camera is improved to 3 megapixels, with better light sensitivity, autofocus, auto-white-balance, can tap to focus, and auto-macro
iPhone 3GS (s for speed) announced with major speed improvements – messages launch 2.1x faster, SimCity loads 2.4x faster, Excel attachments load 3.6x faster, NYTimes loads 2.9x faster. 3G HSDPA is 7.2mbps

Week in Review: May 24, 2009

John Fuller — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:52:13 +0000

Here’s a look at this week’s top Apple headlines.

Week in Review: April 25, 2009

John Fuller — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 05:56:17 +0000

This Week’s Top Apple Headlines:

This Week’s iBAM Posts:

iPhone App Spotlight: Yelp

Week in Review: April 5, 2009

John Fuller — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Here’s a rundown of this week’s top Apple-related headlines:

This Week’s iBAM Posts

Week in Review: March 8, 2009

John Fuller — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 06:00:00 +0000

The first week of March was filled with Apple headlines. Here’s the rundown:

Apple’s Tuesday Announcements

Other Apple News

This Week’s iBAM Posts:

Week in Review: February 22, 2009

John Fuller — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 07:00:09 +0000

The Mobile World Congress may be making headlines, but Apple’s still in the news. Here’s a look at this week in Apple-related news:

& This Week’s iBAM Posts:

Week in Review: February 15, 2009

John Fuller — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 07:00:11 +0000

We’ve got your look back at the second week of February in Apple-related news:

News Stories

Rumor Patrol:

iBAM Posts

Week in Review: January 24, 2009

John Fuller — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Now that Macworld and CES are over, and as January comes to an end, it seems as if tech news has come to a slowdown. Yet, the Apple news thrives on. Here’s a look back at this week:

This Week’s iBAM Posts:

Week in Review

John Fuller — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 07:00:46 +0000

As the holiday season is in full gear, Apple is making headlines – as well as numbers.

This Week’s iBAM Posts:

This Week’s Top Mac-related Headlines:

The Hot Rumors: