MWSF07
Latest
TUAW Show Floor Showoff: OWC's ModBook
There wasn't too much that was truly new and exciting on the Macworld Expo showfloor this year. Don't get me wrong, there was a ton of neat stuff but nothing huge. Nothing that is, other than the ModBook. We've covered it before, and now we have a video tour of the hottest item (other than the iPhone) on the showfloor. A little birdie tells me that OWC got lots of preorders for this baby, and I know their booth was packed for most of the Expo.Update: Some folks are complaining about the Netscape player, and the video quality. For all of these videos, if you head over to the Netscape page you can download the video in iPod format, or the original uploaded version. Here is the iPod version, and here is the original version (.mov) of this particular interview.
Start planning now for Macworld Expo 2008
The Stevenote was barely over on Tuesday and already the sign for next year's Macworld was up in the lobby of Moscone South. For the first time in years, Macworld Expo in San Francisco will not overlap with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas. Macworld 2008 will take place January 14-18 2008, while CES is the prior week, January 7-10, 2008. I'm sure this has more to do with the fact that Apple is firmly a consumer electronics company itself now and will probably have a significant presence at both shows, and less to do with making Tech bloggers lives easier, but we'll take it however we can get it!So who is going to make the first Countdown to Macworld 2008 widget?
What camera is in the iPhone?
Everyone is speculating about what makes the iPhone tick, but one person is wondering about a feature Steve mentioned but didn't demo: the camera. Al-Manazir is trying to figure out what lens is being used in the iPhone, and with some impressive deductive reasoning has has narrowed it down to Micron and Largan. The only way we'll know for sure if when someone cracks open an iPhone for the first time.
Yahoo! Messenger sneak peek
There was a time when Yahoo! Messenger on OS X, well, sucked. That time has long since passed thanks to the great Mac focused team that Yahoo! has created (the Mac team may be small, but they are passionate). I was able to sit down with Matthew Skyrm, Director of Product Management for Yahoo! Messenger, and take a look at what Yahoo! is cooking up for the next beta. It looks good folks, really good.The UI won't be changing too much, but it will be modified to allow for some new features: Tabs - this one is huge. We all know tabs, and the team decided to go with the classic one IM window with tabs on the bottom. If you close the window, it only closes the Tab that you are currently in (which is a nice touch). Voice chat support - one of the most highly requested features it would seem. You can make free computer to computer calls and you can even call phones (and have a phone number associated with your Yahoo! Messenger) thanks to Yahoo! Voice. A new notifications section - one of the nice things about Yahoo! Messenger is that you can IM someone who isn't online and they'll get that IM when they sign on. Sadly, that means if you haven't been online in a while you can face an onslaught of windows when you start up Messenger. Tabs remedy this somewhat, but the good folks at Yahoo! went one step further and create a new section in Messenger that will show you, in your buddy list, any IMs you might have missed. You will find your voice mail here, yes you will be able to get voice mail on Yahoo! Messenger. Archiving - finally the next beta will offer a way for you to archive your messages, and not just in an ugly text file. It is clear that the team spent some serious time on the UI for the archives, and it shows. The archives also offer full Spotlight integration so now you can search your IMs just as easily as you can search the rest of your Mac. I tried to get a firm date for the release of this beta, but that Matthew is cagey. He told me to expect it sometime in the next several months because he would 'rather be vague than late.' Fair enough. This beta of Yahoo! Messenger is looking to be a very compelling upgrade, my only complaint is that I didn't get one bit of Yahoo! swag. Perhaps next Macworld.
TUAW Video: A Mac Moment with Jacqui Cheng
I sat down with Infinite Loop's Jacqui Cheng, one of our most hated rivals (I kid, I kid). Jacqui tells us about her encounter with Woz, her thoughts about the iPhone, and Apple TV. See? We Apple bloggers are one big happy family (though TUAW is totally better than Infinite Loop).
Prosoft Engineering gives sneak peek of Jax for iPod
Prosoft Engineering, makers of some popular Mac utilities like Data Rescue and Drive Genius, are getting ready to introduce something a little different than their flagship products. It's called Jax for iPod and it's expected to ship next month. I stopped by their Macworld booth for a preview and, unfortunately, left almost as confused about the product as I was before I got there. Not to mention, struck by how similar the Jax icon is to a certain iPhone carrier's logo. Jax for iPod is difficult to describe. Not just for me - the press release and the people at the booth also failed the "elevator pitch." But I'll try to sum it up. It's an iPod/iTunes utility with a myriad of modules (er... Jaks, as they call them) that do a little bit of everything. Jax includes some new iTunes visualizers, a song lyric downloader, and an album art importer. It also allows you to sync up various bit of information with your iPod, such as directions, weather forecasts, stock quotes, movie listings, even local gas prices! It can sync RSS feeds, the contents of your email and your text documents in iPod notes format and play them back to you as spoken word tracks if you want. In addition, Jax allows you to download directly from YouTube and Google Video to your iPod, without going through another converter first. Jax features are upgradeable and many more plug-ins will be available for free as time goes on. What I saw at the booth was an unfinished product, so it's hard to really judge until I get a full copy for review, but all of the Jaks are controlled through a menu in iTunes and the whole interface and concept reminds me a lot of Sherlock or Watson with all the different channels. That's what makes it so hard for me to grasp why I'd want it - it's doing too much. It seems to be trying to give my iPod a lot of PDA functionality, and make it a more versatile video viewer and feed me quickly-outdated information on stocks, weather and gas prices. Oh yeah, and give my iTunes some new visualizers. So far, I can't say I find the premise of Jax very appealing, and I can't help but wonder why they'd create this single app that serves so many different purposes, but I'll reserve further judgment until I see the finished product in February.
TUAW Video: A Mac Moment with Leo Laporte, Part 1
Here is part one of a three part discussion with lead TWiT Leo LaPorte. Leo and talk about Macworld Expo and all things iPhone. We'll have part two up on Monday.
TUAW Video: Macworld Expo Moscone South quick tour
I took a camera and walked up and down every aisle of the Macworld Expo showfloor in Moscone South, just so you could feel like you were there. Sit back, open your favorite beverage, and enjoy this 5 minute walk of Moscone South.Update: Embedded the correct video. It has been a long Macworld, folks.
TUAW Video: Interview with iLounge's Jeremy Horwitz
We sat down with iLounge's Editor-in-chief Jeremy Horwitz today and talking about the iPhone, iPod accessories, earphones and more. Give it a watch and I bet you'll learn something.
Macworld 2007 Keynote available on iTunes
It seemed that every other comment on my post about the Keynote QuickTime stream was, 'Why isn't Apple putting this on the iTunes Store?' Well, folks, Apple has heard your pleas and has made the Keynote available from the iTunes Store. At least, they are going to. At the time of this post the Keynote page was set up, but the file itself was not available (soon, I am sure).It is interesting to note that this Keynote appears under 'podcasts,' which seems to be a trend.Update: The file is now available.
iLounge posts their Best of Show 2007
Our friends at iLounge have been pounding the show floor looking for the best stuff out there. As usual, they have produced their famous 'Best of Show 2007' awards, and the list up for you to marvel at. The iPhone, of course, made the list but check out the iPod accessories you'll find. Jeremy and I sat down and spoke about the awards (the interview will be online later today) and he told me that while nothing on the list was revolutionary there are lots of solid products that should make anyone happy.
Beta Beat: Parallels RC1 (Build 3120) released
Parallels just posted their latest build (Build 3120) for download here (dmg). The new version boasts a lot of improvements, including better USB support for web cams, external hard drives, printers and scanners, virtual CD/DVD drives ("Burn CDs and DVDs directly in virtual machines, and play any copy-protected CD or DVD just like you would on a real PC"), improved Coherence and Boot Camp support, and bundled "Transporter RC" plus lots of bug fixes. In related news, Parallels Desktop won the MacWorld Expo 2007 "Best in Show". Thanks Kevin Duerr.
Booth tours in the galleries
We've been combing the extensive Macworld Expo 2007 floor since Tuesday and have posted some more booth tour galleries for your viewing enjoyment. Almost everyone has a presence here of some sort (sadly, almost), so we're doing our best to hit as may of the booths we can. As of this post, we have a couple handfuls of booths up, including Belkin, Crumpler, iSkin, Marware and plenty more, with even more on the way. If you couldn't make it to Macworld, these booth tours and video coverage are your next best chance.
iPhone: Intel not inside
I was just wondering out loud to Hadley Stern of AppleMatters tabout the chip that powers the iPhone. Looks like I can cross Intel off my list of suspects. Intel and Apple both confirm that there is no Intel silicon in the iPhone. Apple didn't say who is the chip maker for the iPhone.Interestingly, Intel is powering the Apple TV. I wonder which Intel chip, the smart money says it is powered by Viiv.Thanks, Scotto.
Apple booth tour at Macworld 07
It isn't quite so much a 'booth tour' as it is 'the biggest darn thing on the floor, bar none.' Apple is seriously pimping their two major forays into consumer electronics, and their gargantuan floor signage, two massive demonstration stages and rotating glass iPhone cases all but scream it out loud. Mac OS X Leopard, at least what we've already seen, is also on stage in between Apple TV and iPhone demos, and surrounding their staging area are long kiosk areas with consumer and pro level products and software laid out for exhibitors to play with if the Apple Store down the street is too busy.Check out our gallery of Apple 'booth' shots, and stay tuned for more booth tours both big and small.
Keeping the iPhone Under Wraps
Fortune Magazine has a nice article on the challenges Apple faced in keeping the iPhone under wraps for the 30 months or so it was in development. When you think about the number of folks who must have been involved, not only at Apple, but also at Cingular, Google, Yahoo, and an "unnamed Asian manufacturer," it really was pretty amazing that it was kept this quiet for this long. As the article notes "pillow talk was a challenge... Keeping secrets from loved ones is especially hard." I had never thought about that, but it's hard to imagine being satisfied with a response like "that's classified" when your spouse works at Apple, not the NSA![Via Digg]
Skitch
As a blogger here on TUAW I probably take an unusually high number of screenshots. I always have Grab and ImageWell running, so I can snag some pics of websites or of apps in action. That is, I always had Grab/ImageWell running, until I visited Plasq's booth on the Macworld showfloor.Move over ImageWell: I have a new love, and its name is Skitch. Skitch is currently in a very private beta (we're talking single digit users at the moment), but the good folks at Plasq assure me that more info will be available next week. Skitch simplifies the way you take screenshots on your Mac. Think of it as a WYSIWYG screenshot taker (that's What You See Is What You Get) with the added bonus of making uploading those pics to a remote server (via FTP, SFTP, .Mac, or Flickr to name a few) dead simple. And it doesn't stop there; Skitch can also take pictures using your iSight and allows you to add text, doodles, and arrows to those images (and each of those elements is inserted onto its own layer, but Skitch handles all that... you need not interact directly with the layers).Read on for a screenshot, though it really doesn't tell the whole story of this innovative UI.
XtremeMac announces Apple TV cables and switcher
XtremeMac has just announced a new product line developed especially for Apple TV. You might have noticed that cables are not included with the Apple TV, but XtremeMac has you covered. They the following cables for preorder: audio ($14.95, 2 meters) component ($19.95, 2 meters) HDMI>DVI ($19.95, 2 meters) HDMI>HDMI ($19.95, 2 meters) TOSLINK ($19.95, 2 meters) They also announced the XtremeHD 4-Port switcher, with remote. This switcher plugs into the one HDMI input on your HDTV and makes available 4 HDMI ports for your peripherals, including the Apple TV. You can switch from input to input via a button on the front or with the included remote. Best of all, it has the same dimensions as the Apple TV so you can stack 'em. The XtremeHD 4-Port switcher will be available in February. Pricing hasn't been announced.
TUAW video: Apple TV demo
Yesterday we got a little demo of the Apple TV. Take a look at the video, and hopefully it puts the product in a little perspective for you.Update: We're fixing an issue with the video, it should be back up shortly.Update II: All fixed.
Dan Warne hates 10 things about the iPhone
Nothing in this world is perfect, other than hindsight, and the iPhone is no exception. People will encounter quirks when using this product in the real world. Hey, it happens (especially with a first rev of a complex product).Dan Warne has given a little thought to the iPhone and has created a list of ten things he hates about it. Considering that the iPhone has been out for less than a day this is an impressive feat. Dan lists, amongst his complaints: The battery isn't removable EDGE (it is slow compared to the other options) 5 hour talk time He makes some good point but isn't it interesting that despite these 10 things he hates about the iPhone he is still going to get one. That, my friends, is the true power of Apple.Is there anything about the iPhone that you hate? Sound off in the comments.
