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Steve Jobs interview on CNBC
You've watched the Keynote, but you need another hit of that Reality Distortion Field, don't you? Check out this CNBC interview with Steve Jobs after his Keynote. Steve talks about why Apple is going into the phone business (hint, Steve wanted an iPhone of his own and he has a little pull at Apple).Steve also talks about the stock options scandal that we've been covering.
TUAW Podcast #17: The Keynote aftermath
Last night we broke the Snowball mic out and did an impromptu podcast debating what we would see at the Stevenote. Some of our predictions were right, some were wrong (like all of mine) but it was entertaining and fun to do.Tonight, after the Keynote, we decided to gather round the USB mic once again and reflect upon what Steve, and the many talented people at Apple, hath wrought. Keep in mind that this is a quick and dirty podcast, so the production level isn't high but the content makes up for that.This time around the podcast weighs in at just over 21MB and 23 minutes. As always, you can grab it via direct link here, our iTunes Store podcast directory or with our dedicated podcast RSS feed. Enjoy, and be sure to drop us some feedback in the comments!
Yojimbo 1.4 released with AppleScript support
Bare Bones Software has released version 1.4 of Yojimbo, their "effortless information organizer" that is oh so popular with the kids these days. To summarize the press release, the main new addition is long-requested "extensive" support for automation via AppleScript and Perl. Also in this release is a new "Untagged Items" factory smart collection to go along with the still somewhat new tagging feature they released with v1.3. Of course, plenty of bug fixes and refinements also made it into this release, all of which you can view in the release notes. You can snag the new version from Bare Bones' updates page.
David Pogue gets his hands on the iPhone
We're just lowly bloggers here at TUAW, so we got no closer to the iPhone than the rest of the Macworld attendees, that is from the other side of a clear plastic barrier. David Pogue, though, is a different story. The New York Times columnist had an hour long meeting with Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller where he got to touch, and use, one of the iPhone prototypes. He typed an email (typing is a little awkward on the virtual keyboard), made a phone call (crystal clear), and found out that it isn't ready for prime time (some features aren't complete).Pogue addresses some of my concerns about the 'smudginess' of the display, but I'll still need to hold one myself before I pass judgment.
Macworld brings parking problems, needed revenue to San Francisco
While we Mac geeks are having a grand old time here at Macworld, it would seem that some San Francisco natives aren't that thrilled. This article in the San Francisco Gate bemoans the fact that parking will be tougher, the city will be more crowded, and congestion will be up. It does go on to mention that Macworld isn't the largest convention, and since no streets are being closed for it traffic shouldn't be too bad. Plus, as the article points out, Macworld brings in lots of cash, and who can argue with that?
Apple Inc., beyond the "Computer"
With all the hubbub today folks may have missed a small but telling detail. Given the focus on iPods and now the iPhone, Jobs announced the company itself had changed its name from "Apple Computer Inc." to simply "Apple Inc." (already reflected on the bottom of the homepage, right). Since the iPod became such a hit, many old-time Mac folks have worried that that Apple was increasingly moving away from the Macintosh. While I think it's premature to worry too much, certainly the change in name reflects a substantial shift in Apple's (or perhaps better, Steve Jobs') understanding of what Apple is as a company. It's starting to look like Apple is repositioning itself into a consumer electronics company that also makes computers (Sony, anyone?). What this means in the long term, both for the Mac and for Apple, is anyone's guess. It's heartening, though, that the iPhone will run OS X, so we can hope that even as Apple goes into new markets it won't forget the Mac faithful who got it here in the first place. What's your take on the name change?
iPhone market fallout: RIM racked, Palm pounded
If your stock ticker symbol is RIMM or PALM, today would have been a good day to stay in bed. The trend noted in this Engadget post from 2 pm ET kept on going through the trading session, with Blackberry-maker Research in Motion losing nearly 8% on the NASDAQ and 7.7% on the Toronto exchange. Palm suffered nearly as badly, with Nokia and Motorola posting much smaller declines. For the homes of the Treo and the Pearl, "Black Tuesday" represented a total loss of market value approaching $2.2 billion dollars. Meanwhile, Apple's one-button bounce on the day was a stunning $6.1 billion.Seems that Wall Street got Steverino's message loud and clear; he expects to take his 1% of cellphone market share right off the top, and he is definitely playing for keeps. I'm guessing that this "Sponsored by Blackberry" ad button won't be showing up on any more CNET videos, either.Thanks Florian!
More on Yahoo! oneSearch and Go for Mobile 2
Jerry Yang's appearance during the iPhone intro made several of us say "What are these new mobile services that he's talking about?" Turns out that Yahoo! oneSearch and Go for Mobile 2.0, discussed in the New York Times (reg req) today, were introed at CES on Monday. One item in the NYT article caught my eye, a quote from a Yahoo! exec:"We view the mobile Internet today as entering an era where the PC-based Internet was in '96 or '97," said Steve Boom, Yahoo's senior vice president for broadband and mobile. "It is just on the cusp of taking off." C'mon... is that REALLY your name, "Steve Boom," or are you a Macworld keynote joke?Go for Mobile is described on the Yahoo! corporate blog as "a swirling carousel of little widgets" that provide access to your Yahoo! contacts, local search, weather and other goodies pushed to your phone. The oneSearch module for "mobile-optimized search" is intended to give you a more intuitive, quick search for on-the-move use. You can download the beta from Yahoo! by pointing your mobile browser at http://get.go.yahoo.com/ today, or take the tour.Yahoo! is serious about promoting these services; if you were at CES, you could have gotten free Coldstone ice cream from their booth. Yum.
Is "One More Thing" yet to come?
We have nothing but an anonymous tip to go on but this one comes from a slightly more reliable source than our usual tips. Then again, maybe we are giving it more clout than normal because, as thrilled as we are with today's Applegasms, we still want more. We're greedy like that.Anyway, we've been advised to keep our eyes open for an announcement of new or updated software, perhaps before dawn. Since David is already a pro at sleeping on sidewalks outside of convention centers, we're trying to talk him into camping out in front of the Moscone again to see if he catches anyone swapping out the ad kiosk signage.I'm still thinking iWork '07 and possibly iLife '07, although with today's hardware intros, the iLife update seems more likely for spring and/or summer to coincide with the Apple TV and iPhone ship dates. I'm still surprised that Leopard wasn't mentioned at all during the Keynote, which makes me wonder when they are letting the cat out of the bag?Stay tuned to see if we called this one right or if we wake up with egg on our face - although the open bar tonight might cause that anyway!
Revisiting the Rumors: Rebecca Runkle proved right
About a month ago, AppleInsider reported that Morgan Stanley analyst Rebecca Runkle's research note detailed her findings from unnamed inside sources. Her predictions were: 4GB and 8GB models, priced at $599 and $649, although she suggested that a slightly lower list price would be a conservative guess. Full screen 3.5" LCD about 0.4" thick with a virtual click wheel and soft touch design. Metal casing, similar to the nano, in multiple colors. Camera, digital audio playback, video, e-mail and calendar. Most likely carrier: Cingular. Pretty accurate stuff, wouldn't you say?
Flickr Find: iWoz sighting
TUAW reader Tyler Howarth had a rare encounter this morning with the elusive Wozbeast. The Woz, which is not often found in the wild, was encountered just outside of Moscone North this morning. By approaching him carefully and not showing agression, Tyler and his friend Mike were able to entice him into a photo shot. The Woz was also spotted shaking the hands of fans and signing a Macbook Pro. This probably does not technically count as twitching, as Mac events are the natural Woz habitat.
How much have you spent today?
With Apple TV and the new AirportExtreme Base Station available today for pre-order from apple.com, I'm wondering how many of you have already whipped out your credit cards and bought one (or two, or three...)?If you placed your order(s), tell us what you bought in the comments.
Macworld SF 2007 Keynote stream available
The Keynote is now available for streaming on Apple's Quicktime site. Interestingly, you can watch either the whole Keynote, or just the iPhone introduction. Apple is really betting the farm on this phone and if a first impression from a distance is any indicator then they have a hit.I just tried to stream the Keynote, but 'Due to exceptional demand, your request could not be completed at this time. Please try again at a later time.' Try again, Mac faithful, try again.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Office 2008 for Mac in second half of 2007
The Microsoft BU has just announced that Office 2008 for Mac will be released in the second half of 2007. Office 2008 will be Universal (hurrah!) and include a number of Mac only features: Publishing Layout Views - Let's you create newsletters and things by presenting the related Office tools in a new layout Ledger Sheets - Makes managing your finances even easier in Excel My Day - A new stand alone application that lets you stay on top of your activities across Office applications Office 2008 for Mac will the new Office Open XML Formats from the get go so it'll be compatible with Office 2007 on Windows. Check out this interview with Roz Ho, general manager of the Mac BU to get some juicy details.
Analysis: The Elephant in the Room - EDGE on the iPhone?
There's no question that today's iPhone annoucement is huge news both for Apple fans and the wireless industry in general. Apple has beat my (and I suspect almost everyone else's) expectations in almost all areas, save one--the cellular technology they've chosen to integrate with the iPhone. For those of you who may not know EDGE is a so-called 2.75G technology and not one of the new 3G technologies now being rolled out by most of the big cell carriers. The upshot of this is much lower bandwidth than 3G standards like EVDO (on Verizon and Sprint and other CDMA providers) and UMTS/HSDPA (on Cingular and other GSM providers). The analogy many people use is that EDGE is more like dial-up and HSDPA is more like broadband. EDGE tends to get real world speeds in the range of 70Kbps to 135Kbps (on a good day), while wifi is of course much faster (real world is generally about half of the rated speed, so about 27Mbps for 802.11g).The Keynote seemed to demonstrate pretty quick downloads on the iPhone, but the real question is how fast things will be on the EDGE network rather than via wifi. Obviously the inclusion of wifi mitigates the problem when you're in range of a base station, but I'm really curious to see how data intensive services like Google maps and web browsing really work when you're on Cingular's network. A final question will be Cingular's data pricing: will there be an affordable all you can eat data plan for the iPhone?. We're so used to seeing Apple push the technology envelope in other areas, it really seems like a strange choice to integrate last generation wideband technology in its new flagship product. Of course, none of this is going to stop me from getting one. What do you think?
Apple TV up close
The Apple TV isn't under lock and key, as the iPhone is. It's about half the height of a Mac mini, with the same footprint, and quite unassuming. It sports a remote we're already familiar with. Here are some of the first pics of the Apple TV, taken during and immediately after the Keynote.Update: For those that asked in the comments, those are Sony television sets, although I didn't note the exact model.
Apple iPhone up close
Although we haven't held one in our hands yet, we did get a few pics of the iPhone up close. There are several on display in the Apple "booth", but they are all in glass spheres, sitting on pedestals. Here are a few of the first pics, taken before the doors opened to the public...
URL for the Keynote, to be posted later today
The Stevennote finished a little over an hour ago, and Apple already has a placeholder up for the streaming video. Head on over to the iPhone section of Apple's website to see the placeholder. We'll let you know when the video goes live.
Apple announces Apple TV (formerly 'iTV')
Apple has just officially announced the Apple TV, formerly the iTV, for both Mac and PC. We knew it was coming, but now we have the details It is coming out next month and it can: wireless transfer to Apple TV HDMI output support for 720p includes 40gb drive includes 802.11 a/b/g/n (yes, n) stream from up to 5 machines can sync iTunes library AppleTV ships next month and goes for $299. That $299 includes the Apple TV, an Apple Remote, Power Cord, and a Quick Start Guide. The dimensions are 7.7 by 7.7 inches (Steve loves squares), height 1.1 inches, and weighs only 2.4 pounds.What formats does it support, straight from the specs: Video formats supported: H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): 640 by 480, 30 fps, LC version of Baseline Profile 320 by 240, 30 fps, Baseline profile up to Level 1.3 1280 by 720, 24 fps, Progressive Main Profile. MPEG-4: 640 by 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile Audio AAC (16 to 320 Kbps) protected AAC (from iTunes Store) MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps) MP3 VBR Apple Lossless AIFF WAV
From the showfloor: iPhone might be popular
One of Apple's iPhone taglines seems to be 'We need to talk,' and judging from the crowd around the iPhones on the floor (that is about as close as I could get), people like 'em. More photos from the floor, as well as some close up pics of the Apple TV and iPhone shortly.
