MacBook Air in the air?
By Thomas Ricker 
posted January 14th 2008 7:02AM
posted January 14th 2008 7:02AM
The kids over at 9to5Mac are making the case that Apple's rumored ultra-portable will be dubbed the MacBook Air. Besides all the anecdotal evidence supporting their case, one of their readers discovered a machine identifying itself as a "MacBookAir" in a January 9, 2008 Adium usage log -- 3 days before the "There's something in the air" MacWorld banner was revealed. If true, it's thought that the name could refer to the ultra-portable's weight, WWAN capability, or even Wireless USB support. As odd as the name might sound, just remember how strange we all thought "Wii" was back in the day. Ok, Air is still bad.Read -- 9to5mac
Read -- week 2, 2008 Adium log in Google's cache
I don't think apple would that foolish to have a touchpad like that. Also, anyone remember the pictures engadget already posted with the new MB or whatever next to a regular MB or MBP? The touchpad was the same, really fat....and stupid.
If you look hard enough you can see that it is just an iMac that has been cropped at the bezel and a new BT Wireless Keyboard..... nice concept though. I'd buy it if it were real.
AIR is a copyrighted term used by Adobe for Adobe Integrated Runtime and is a product that they publish. They have already sued other companies for using it.
Yeah, and the iPhone was used by another company also
...what's your point?
Or Touch for that matter - HTC already used that before Apple presented the iPod Touch...
They don't care about trademarked name parts apparently.
And so was Macintosh... :)
Sounds good! But I wonder how the price will be...
Sounds good! But I wonder how the price will be...
First of all you can't copyright a term like "Air", "Water", or "earth" alone. It can be copyrighted with another non general term, as in "Nike Air". Secondly it is an acronym .
So in theory, you could have a product called Apple Zune?
erm, no, Zune was an invented word... you can't use generic words as a trademark unless you very narrowly define their use, like 'Apple Computer' or 'Windows Operating System' or something
Zune wasn't a standard English word, they made it up, so they own it outright as far as I know
If Microsoft made a product called Apple Zune yes they could possibly get away with it. Remember Apple Inc. is Apple's actual legal name and before that it was Apple Computer Inc. There is nothing stopping a company from naming a product with a generic term, if another company made a product that was similar in its function the company could still try to say they have rights to that name and that the product would cause consumer confusion suing on the way the product functions and any patents they may have on that product. If you remember Apple computer Inc. at times was fighting with Apple Records which was actually Apple Corps Ltd. They didn't have a problem with each other till Apple Computer started making music products.
My guess is that this air thingy might be:
Wireless HD TV streaming to (a new) Apple TV + HD movie/video support in iTunes + Movie rental that we know is coming....
YES! I am hopeful for this too. The iPod is not a solution for digital video and Apple knows it. A Hobby? yeah right... Apple TV is the key to digital videos for the iTMS. It hasn't taken off yet because it's nowhere near easy for the average user to convert their DVD's to iTunes videos. Apple is obviously working on a solution to this in creating movie rentals, and signing deals with movie companies to include iTunes versions of the movie on every DVD you buy. If only they could come up with a solution to get all of your current DVD's into iTunes legally and easily, I bet you'll see the Apple TV take off like the iPod did with music. They really just need to get with the times and have HD content, and a much larger hard drive for storage.
Imagine being able to select and play any movie in your DVD library without even having to get up!
Hi !
Something very strange here in France !
Nowadays it's Sales Time. Every Time, recent Apple Stuffs are never price low down. But 8GB Ipod Touch is 25% price down !!!
A clue for Tomorrow ???
Could it be an tiny notebook-like creature like the Asus EEE but running Mac o/s? 7-10" screen maybe. IT COULD BE LIGHT AS AIR.
I am still thinking about getting an EEE just for mobile basic stuff. Writing and such.
I would say don't hold out if you're looking for apple to release a similar product in anywhere near the same price range =/
I want one... already
What if the "There's something in the air" MacWorld banner is just about the new video rental option?
"just remember how strange we all thought "Wii" was back in the day. Ok, Air is still bad."
Wii is still bad, too.
On a more serious note, I'm still hoping for ultraportable. I haven't upgraded my 12" Powerbook because I don't want anything larger as a laptop.
And If "in the air", was just something about wifi sync between Ipod/Iphone and Itunes.
Or/And something similar to new starbuck's command system with iphone/ipodT ?
I seem to remember a Apple filing patent application for wireless power charging, could these be in the new MacBook Air
It should be called MacBook Cash. Because eveything Apple makes is overpriced
Wow, what an original comment. You are so witty!
Not everything they make is overpriced... it's just when you add upgrades to their systems that costs are higher than the competition.
Oddly enough, I was downloading an updated driver for the Canon MP610 today, and noticed this comment in the CUPS driver...
1. Use the CUPS drivers in the following cases only: -When performing 16-bit color printing -When printing from the 64-bit application 2. Mac OS X v10.5 Printing from Air Mac is not available.
I'll assume they really meant Airport, but still caught my attention. The file was posted on 13-Dec-07.
"As odd as the name might sound, just remember how strange we all thought "Wii" was back in the day. Ok, Air is still bad."
Umm, at least "Air" is a word. I could understand calling it corny, or uninspired- but weird? I don't follow. Is the Nike Air "strange"?
ANYwho- I hope this is an ultraportable. People always say that Macs are overpriced- but you have to admit that the bigger storage iPods were a great value. What is it for the 160GB classic? $350? Hopefully this thing provides a similar bang-to-buck ratio.
Holy mother of salmon!
you seriously think $350 for a 160gb is worth it??
Juice Daddy, that's 160GB of 1.5" harddrive. Yes, it is worth it.
1.8" rather
blegh
I could find much better uses for $350
No value?
The closest thing I could see with triple digit gigs at a decent price was the Wolverine Data MVP (100GB) clocks in at $325 which isn't a brand name (to say the least), and most likely doesn't have a decent interface. I didn't do a thorough search yet but I'd imagine you'd be hard up to beat the price with those requirements (>99gigs and
sorry, my 'less than' sign bugged out the html:
...those requirements (over 99gigs and less than $400)
Archos will actually go up to 160gb, but goes for $540 for what I'm looking at on newegg right now.
I've always pointed this out as a reason for the iPod's success, but everyone always tells me that "it's the user interface" and so on and so forth. Not to say that doesn't count- but I think us nerds will always be looking at the dollar-to-gig ratio.
As for "better uses" for your $350, yes I understand that it could be a cheap computer running a linux server or some thanksgiving day flatscreen sale... but in terms of what I was actually talking about I think my point still stands.
Point being: If they can throw us a decent sub-notebook/ultraportable/whatever at a bargain price, I'd be really tempted. If it's light on features or high in price it won't be a complete media circus "omg everyone has to buy this right now" kind of thing- just a quality product for a certain kind of application. Kinda unfortunate for apple that people want 'grand slams' all the time.
I think Apple has been unwilling to compromise on their PowerBook 12" replacement. That's why nothing has been announced ever since they went intel. They wanted to do it with a bang, to make a statement and show us why the heck one should choose Apple's subnotebook and not a Vaio. Anyone could produce a good subNotebook, but Apple is one of the few that would dare to break new ground like this. I, for one, would have to buy a whole new audio card to go gigging with this one, and pray that the latency wouldn't be affected... I would do it though.
This MacBook Air name sounds almost as funky as "MacBook" did at first. Which means.. yeah, why not?
Er, sorry to be the boring guy in the group, but couldnt that Adium usage log have captured MacBook Airport Extreme as MacBook Air?
Nonetheless, something to look forward to tomorrow!!!
I'm getting a vision... Steve Jobs... getting on stage while Phill Collins' In the air tonight is playing... holding the new MacBook Air as the holy grail of portable computing. Hmm good times :).
sounds like a louf ov hot air
I recently got a MacBook from work. I am annoyed by the "single button" nature of the mouse.
The "two finger right click" doesn't work for some applications, especially those where you need to do two clicks in a short amount of time. In particular mouse gestures and mouse "rocker" gestures (e.g. leftclick-rightclick means "go forward"; rightclick-leftclick means "go back"). I have been using those in Opera and Firefox (with extensions) for some time, and the lack of them on the Mac annoys me. The "rocker" gestures also don't work on the "mighty mouse" since you can't register the clicks fast enough.
I'll bet it's NOT called the MacBook Air, but
The AirBook -
!
Wii is still a horrible name.
Maybe it's a reference to the MacBook that would be as "light as air." A nice reference for an ultraportable computer.
C'mon, this one seems easy to guess. This is probably a subnotebook MacBook with an iPhone-style GSM/EDGE modem built in. Get a $50/mo data plan from AT&T and you have a lightweight MacBook that you can take anywhere and have internet service (3G, please!?)
It keeps everything in line with the always-on wireless internet access philosophy of the iPhone.
What does it matter what it's called? People will still buy it.
can it fly?
Seems strange that if it's called the "Macbook Air" that Apple waited until January 11th 2008 to purchase macbookair.com.
I'm going to comment that Asus has a internet enabled radio already called the Air.
Apple wouldn't go through the trouble to negotiate deals to use that trademark for a name as stupid as the Air. I mean, at least the iPhone was a name that made sense....... and iAir just doesn't roll off the tongue.
Q.how will apple sell MacBookAir?
A.Steve jobs + MacBookAir + 3 Whores = $$$
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Look at the "There's Somthing in the air" banner they have that proves that mac is only better on running photoshop :)