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Google Wave development discontinued, Waveboard sinks
After much public and private debate over its actual utility, Google Wave, as you've probably already heard, is dead. Google posted a notice yesterday announcing that, due to a lack of public acceptance for the realtime collaboration platform, they are halting development. "We don't plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product," states Google, "but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects." Very few people are surprised by this news, and Wave has been roundly criticized for being poorly executed. Many (including myself), however, are disappointed. One Mac developer, in particular, is saddened by this development. Dirk Holtwick, author of a Wave client called Waveboard, got the news while on holiday this week. It goes without saying that a developer with commercial applications for Mac, iPhone and iPad which rely on Wave is disappointed by this announcement. Holwick shared with TUAW his own criticism of the "buggy first experience" that Wave provided most users, but also his admiration for technology that was "great, and ahead of its time." Read on for more.
A less-than-graceful keynote
We've seen the keynote in 60 seconds, and we've seen the "only the adjectives" 'approach before. Here's a slightly less complimentary way to show off the keynote, though, with all of the "ums," "aahs," and other interjections that popped up during the iPhone OS 4.0 keynote a while back. Far be it from us to make fun of Mr. Steven P. Jobs, of course, but something funny like this actually shows off how good he really is at doing it right. Seeing him up there on stage with his turtleneck and jeans, all enthusiastic about whatever "magical and revolutionary" device they've cooked up this time, is half the fun of a new Apple product announcement. If Steve were any less eloquent and smooth than he is, you might end up with something like this: a guy desperately trying to put a few words together about his new product. It's not nearly as effective, but it's much funnier. [via MacStories]
Apple's "controlled leaks" and how they spin them
Here's an interesting story that popped up this week, made even more relevant by all of the tablet rumors flying around lately. John Martellaro at the Mac Observer has called out the Wall Street Journal piece earlier this week as a controlled leak from Apple. What he says makes sense: the news came from an unnamed source and was published by two different authors, the WSJ's Apple beat writers, to keep the responsibility divided (and keep Walt Mossberg above the fray, perhaps). If Apple does want to leak information, it seems easy enough -- as Martellaro says, an executive phones a friend, asks to keep their name out of the story, and then a rumor is out there. Of course, there's the question of how often (if ever) this actually happens; most Mac media folk have never been on the receiving end of such a leak. The other real question is: why? Apple could merely be sending ideas out there to see how they'll play -- the WSJ post specifically mentioned a 10 or 11" display, so it's possible they wanted to pre-test that idea. Martellaro also reckons that Apple's message could have been directed at another company, either a competitor or a partner who needed to be reminded that the tablet release was approaching quickly. And finally, it could have been directed at us press -- rumors build more rumors, which build hype, which, as Martellaro says, put butts in seats at the event later this month. Of course, there's always the question of stock manipulation, and it could be argued that leaks like this might cause problems there. But otherwise, leaks by Apple are more or less harmless to everyone besides the company itself. If Apple did leak something it doesn't end up delivering on (i.e. promises of one product and another one ends up getting released), it's the companys own reputation that will be on the line. Apple can say that it doesn't respond to or support rumors, but when the company's own executives are allegedly telling the WSJ what the tablet is like, the onus falls on the company's reputation as a whole. [via Apple Insider]
3GS has 99% satisfaction rate, AT&T not so much
A recent customer survey (of only 200 customers -- what are these surveys getting away with only 200 respondents?) claims that the iPhone 3GS has a 99% satisfaction rate. A full 99% of 200 polled iPhone customers claim that they are satisfied with their purchase, while 82% of them claimed they are "very satisfied." That's higher than previously, too: previous versions of the iPhone got a 73% satisfaction rating. You're probably not surprised by this, but guess what? People love their iPhones.What don't they love about them? 8% said the phone wasn't compatible with their company's IT infrastructure. 41% still say the battery life isn't long enough for their tastes. And a little company called AT&T has drawn the most ire: 55% of respondents say the AT&T network was the worst feature of the iPhone 3GS. So there you go. This just in: ten of eleven Twitterers I just surveyed do like ice cream. That survey is probably just as shocking as the iPhone one, which is not much.Still, quite a deal Apple has. Your product has almost unanimous satisfaction from customers, and the worst thing about it... is the fault of a completely separate company. Good deal indeed.
Play PSP, eat PSP candies
Ever wanted to eat sour candy out of a PSP-shaped tin case? Well, in about two months, you can. Online retailer Urban Collector has a pre-order listing for "PSP Sours" (pictured above) and will be selling 12-pack boxes for roughly $32. Although PSP Sours is an interesting concept, something tells us that it isn't an official, Sony-licensed product. Anyway, let us know if you spot PSP Sours in your local grocery or convenience store. We want to know if they're any good -- and, more importantly, if the little candies are shaped like PSPs, too. Now that would be cool. [Update: Actually, these candies are the real deal, a SCEA rep has confirmed with us. Apparently, the little candies inside are shaped like the face buttons: X, O, Square and Triangle.][Via Electricpig]
Northrend's Gross Domestic Product: 719 million gold
Our friend The WoW Economist started a little project the other day: he added up, according to the top items lists, all of the products sold from Northrend across the servers, and then multiplied each by what he calls a "median" price (though exactly how that's reached, we're not sure), and landed on a huge amount of gold: 719,918,239.7. Obviously I'm not a WoW Economist (I'm not even that good at math), but that sounds to me like Northrend's gross domestic product: players are creating an economy of 719 million gold in Northrend from week to week.Unfortunately, that number alone doesn't tell us much, except that there's a lot of gold moving around in Northrend (it would be interesting to compare this to, say, Azeroth or Outland's equivalent, though the more useful numbers would probably be Outland before the new expansion hit, when everyone was still farming and selling items from there). And it will be interesting to see this tracked in the future: the real GDP is usually used as an indicator of both standard of living and a country's economic health, and while there are drawbacks to using that number to gauge both of those qualities, it's probably fair to say the economy in Northrend is booming. Maybe tracking this in the future will let us see how new content patches or item or even class updates can affect what the economy does there.Very interesting. EVE Online's creators, CCP, have actually hired an economist to help run their ingame economy, and while WoW's isn't generally seen as quite that complicated, there are still plenty of big numbers to play around with..
Community goes extremely overboard on iPhone Extreme
Tom from iPhonebuglist.com was poking around in Apple's online feedback form, and as you can see above, he found something interesting hidden in the HTML code. There was a product tag on the form not for the iPhone, but for the "iPhone Extreme." The page has since been fixed, and there's no trace of it ever appearing.We completely agree with Apple Insider on this one: it's a stretch to say this is anything more than a coder mixup. Still, there it is, right there (in a Windows window! Tom, how dare you!). Could it be a "sport" version of the iPhone? Or a home device designed to serve as a standalone, Mac-less dock for your iPhone on your Airport Extreme network?Probably neither. I'm pretty sure a comment over at 9-to-5 Mac has it right (although the site themselves went way overboard, calling a February release on what is really an imaginary product): whoever coded the page just used the Airport Extreme template, and did a mass cut-and-paste with "iPhone" and "Airport." Amazing that the Mac community can get so worked up over what almost surely is simply a coder's mistake.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Looking for iSight
Throughout the day, readers have been sending in tips about the missing iSight. When I checked this evening, Apple's store was willing to sell me an iSight Accessory Kit, or a Griffin SightLight, but the actual iSight itself was missing in action. Some readers have reported that their local Apple Stores are out of stock as well. Reader Richard Cook checked CompUSA, MacMall, MacZone and MacConnection. All out of stock with a 10-14 day wait. So why has the iSight disappeared? Could we be looking at a new product announcement? Might a new iSight be introduced soon? What do you think? Thanks everyone who wrote in.
Found Footage: SNL - Post-It-Notes
It's always nice to see Apple parodies, especially when they: a) have nothing to do with an existing product, or specifically: the iPod, and b) are from the mid-90's. This is a decent SNL spoof that quickly rose up the digg ranks yesterday evening, parodying a fictitious Apple product that's a bit too much disposable overkill for its own good. Enjoy.[via digg]
Leo Laporte wants to rebrand podcasts as 'netcasts' - I agree
If you're a TWiT fan (or a listener of almost any of Leo's other 200 podcasts), you might have heard in the past couple of weeks that he's pushing to change the term 'podcast' to 'netcast.' He's even gone so far as to start using it in his lingo on the shows (at least on the few of his shows I can keep up with), and is looking to trademark the term. Now before you run off and flame TWiT's forums, just hear the man out - because I think he has a good idea.Leo has a couple of reasons for hoping to move the mountain that is now podcasting. The first is Apple's recent bullish attitude towards the terms 'pod' and 'podcast,' as they've been filing their own trademarks and sending nastygrams to companies who get even just a little too close to using these words in their names or products. For a term that was born out of the grassroots web broadcasting movement and coined out of love for Apple's little music player, this understandably felt like a slap in the face to many - including even Leo, who was recently dubbed podcaster of the year. Of course, on the flip side of that coin, I can also understand Apple's interest in protecting their product likeness and the word 'pod.' After all - when else has such a goofy, nerdy word become such an icon? Oh what a twisted web of vocabulary and intellectual property we weave.Leo's second reason, and one that I feel is a bit more significant, is the implication of the deep roots the term 'podcasting' itself has grown, in light of its relationship to the iPod as a word and a product. Leo laments that to so many of podcasting's new target demographic (i.e. - all the non-early adopters who aren't listening to them, yet), the term 'podcast' itself implies that one needs an iPod to download and listen to them. Of course, it's pretty obvious to us nerds that this assumption couldn't be farther from the truth, but that is exactly Leo's point - he wants to change the term to drop that stigma for 'the other half;' the people who might or might not have heard of podcasting, but ultimately don't know much about it. Podcasting is all about leveling the playing field so anyone with some talent can share it with the world - but in this context, the term 'podcasting' is a bit counterproductive to the effort of breaking down the walls for one and all.Let's face it - there are a lot of other DAPs out there, and a ton of other products on which one can listen to music. The 'song' wasn't renamed to 'pong' or 'iPong' - maybe it would be better, and more accessible, to adopt a generic term like 'netcast,' so more listeners can join the party.
Omni Group confirms OmniFocus, a GTD app in the works
The Omni Group has hinted at new products and teased us with a handy tool and toy. While 3rd party solutions have existed to turn their OmniOutliner Pro into a mean, lean Getting Things Done machine, the Omni Group has finally spilled the quintessential bean in a recent blog post and confirmed that a true-blue GTD app is in the works, and its name is OmniFocus.However, I say the Omni gang spilled one bean - and one bean only - because they have twisted the cruel rumor knife ever so slightly by withholding any other details. No features, no clues, no ETA or price range. Not even a blurry icon. Cursed Omni Group! For now, it seems, you have forced us to suffer in your dungeon of anticipation! Our only salvation is your humbling generosity - some day - offering the warm sunlight of more details. Oh despair - thy name is OmniFocus!
Scobleizer wasn't wrong about products at WWDC; this just wasn't the right time
Some are upset at The Scobleizer, as his predictions of a 'dizzying' amount of post-WWDC Apple products and wish for an Apple Store sleepover didn't exactly come true. Scoble even went so far as to apologize on his blog Tuesday, offering a theory as to why our credit cards aren't getting maxed on a fleet of new Apple gadgets: he proposes that Apple didn't bring the goods because they didn't want to screw up their back-to-school sales. If Apple dropped something huge now, they might not have been able to supply enough product in time for all those young whipper-snappers to go back to school. It sounds plausible enough, but I propose a different theory.This is the World Wide Developer Conference, not the World Wide Consumer Gadgets Conference. This is an event first and foremost for the developers, so Apple can get them (and also the press) excited about what's coming down the pipeline in terms of developer-related OS improvements, innovations and new tools, as well as pro hardware like the Mac Pro. Events like January's Macworld and out-of-the-blue, invite-only media blitzes are where Apple drops their crazy new products for the masses.So I don't think the Scobleizer was wrong, I just think his predictions were shooting a little early. Don't worry, y'all will get your shot at an Apple Store sleepover yet.Thanks Jonas!
Scobleizer hints at "dizzying amount" of new Apple products
As I write this, I'm still contemplating the implications of getting Apple tips from a former Microsoft evangelizer's blog, but check this out as I philosophize for the afternoon: The Scobleizer (yea, the one and only), dropped a huge (yet unfortunately vague) hint of what Apple has up their sleeve: "Speaking of Apple, they are readying a dizzying amount of new products. I wish I could camp out at an Apple store during the World Wide Developer Conference on August 7th". Apparently (we're trusting you on this Ron!), Mr. Scoble's brother actually works for Apple, which is why he also goes on to decline commenting any further for fear of the Wrath of Jobs™.Hey, Mr. Scoble, you can spill some juicy tidbits. Apple gave up on that case for ousting that other blogger; why not give it a shot?Thanks Chris G.
Survey: What was your first Apple product?
From everything we've heard, Apple had quite the strong holiday season, with lucky new Mac and iPod owners across the world. Top that off with snowballing buzz surrounding their (hopefully) imminent switch to Intel chips, and we thought it would be a good time to check in with our readers and ask: what was your first Apple-related product, and when did you get it?Let's get reminiscent. Was your first helping of Apple goodness a mere couple of weeks ago, when you picked up an iPod or AirPort Express over the holidays? Or are you (somehow) reading TUAW on your original Apple II? Whether you've been upgrading with every new Mac iteration through the years or you're still unpacking your first iMac with iSight, we'd like to hear when and what product brought you along for the ride on the Apple bandwagon.
