MacBook Air

YEP...

 

Macrumors is reporting that the new slim MacBook will be called the MacBook Air

But why do they call it Air?

Maybe it is the Wimax?  Macpredictions thinks that it won't have any cables.  Induction charging!  Ultra Wideband Bluetooth!  Wireless USB!  Cool if true.

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Wired article on development of the iPhone

Wired today has an incredibly good article on the iPhone, what it took to get it built and how it changed an industry.  There is no shortage of insider details throughout and it really puts a great perspective on the difficulty of making this product and the challenges Steve Jobs/Apple had to overcome

Go.  Read.  It.   (if you haven't already)

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In case you missed it: Sony Pictures is going DivX

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Video

It's been hard enough to keep up with the CES onslaught of news over here on Engadget, so it's understandable if you missed the news over on Engadget HD that Sony Pictures Television is going to start releasing download-to-own but entirely DRM'd DivX content to DivX-certified products like the PS3 and DSM-330. Sadly, 360 owners will be left out in the cold thanks to that unit's lack of proper DivX certification. Otherwise Sony is short on details of actual distribution, so hopefully we'll be learning more soon.

[Via Engadget HD]

 

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Mozilla Takes on Microsoft in China

Like most Chinese Internet users, Chengdu native Gang Lu for years used Microsoft's (MSFT) Internet Explorer for his Web browsing. He switched to Firefox, the open-source browser, six years ago only after going to Britain for graduate school and finding most of his friends and colleagues using it. Today, Lu is the London director of business development at Netvibes Asia, which offers personalized home pages, and spends much of his time working with Chinese Web startups. He says he's frustrated because so few Chinese sites support Firefox. "I have visited quite a few Internet companies and talked to their developers. More than 95% of these guys say: 'We just need to make sure our Web site or our service can work on IE. I don't care about Firefox.'"

Now, Firefox fans are trying to boost the upstart browser's Chinese profile. Last month, Mozilla signed an agreement with China's most popular search engine, Baidu (BIDU), to cement an existing relationship that allows...

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Macworld 2008 banners popping up: "There's something in the air"

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Gotta love those vague, suggestive statements Apple puts on its event banners before the big show. This year's Macworld Expo banners read "There's something in the air" -- but even if that something isn't a whole lot of new wireless / cellular gear, there's certainly no shortage of breathable hype.

[Photo courtesy of Andrew S.]

 

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New Intel Canmore chip destined to hit AppleTV 2

HardMac is speculating that the next generation AppleTV 2 (or 3?) might use one of the new System on a Chip (SoC) designs Intel announced this week at CES.  Currently, Apple uses a standalone  1Ghz pre-Core Intel chip for its AppleTVs.  According to Hardmac,

They plan to release in Q3 2008 the Canmore, an x86 processor-based SoC supporting audio 7.1, hardware-decoding for high-definition video up to 1080p and advanced DRM management.
In summary, all functions required to build a new and more powerful Apple TV which could then become independent of any computer to get access directly to movie catalogs available on the iTunes Store.

According to Intel, the Canmore line shouldn't be ready until mid to late 2008.  Apple, readying iTunes movie rentals won't need too much - if any- more horsepower to download and play rentals on the AppleTV.  However, if the device is to operate as a standalone device, a speed bump may be in order.

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It's an 8-core Mac Pro!

Apple did not wait until Macworld keynote to launch the ultimate desktop - Apple Mac Pro, now sporting dual quad core processors. It has anything in the world possible to be put in in the mac infrastructure and available now.
Now if you excuse me, I am continuing browsing the Apple Online Store....

UPDATE : Apple also released a refreshed X-Serve - so they let the beasts out first....

Apple Store Site is Down

Usually the store is down either it is on maintenance (the boring part) or they have something new (the interesting part). The time is not logical for Apple to have a new offering as the Macworld keynote by Steve Jobs is not due to next week - so it is most logically be a maintenance routine. But it has been down for quite a while now and in the message it says (I am still reading it now after refresh) that Apple is updating the site, usually it says something about maintenance. What could they be updating? Could it be the movie rental offerings? It has to be something that Steve not put that in the spotlight in the upcoming keynote. But I can always wrong....

Wii Fit - Boxing

A new game introduced for Wii Fit - aerobic boxing. I am not sure at this stage whether it will be pre-packaged with the board.

Cyberlife Consolidation ; I Have Sold Myself to Google

As I mentioned in my previous post, I got hooked with Google tools and apps. Now I tell you that my life online is more and more tangled to Google. Yup, I had bit the bullet and stepped in to Google world. Not that I work for the company, but by storing my virtual life in Google infrastructure.
If you ask who knows me best, I'd say Google now. Google stores my idea, my rants, my thoughts, my memory, my life. It is a scary thought at some point - I sold myself to Google for the convenience using their tools. And just like selling a soul to Satan, it's hard to break the deal.
Google has miraculously provide tools where using a Google account you can do almost what you want to do online. And I am using those tools to allow me doing what I want to do seamlessly everywhere and using any machine. As long as I have internet access, log in to google, and I am basically home. I can access my documents, spreadsheets, photos, my favorite news, and beyond. I can even synchronize the pages opened in the browser so it shows the sites I visited last.
Like signing up a deal with the devil, this looks like a very sweet deal in the beginning. But with this deal, I had given up my privacy to Google and just have to trust them to respect my privacy. If Google turned evil, I am screwed big time.
PS: I am only selling my personal life to Google. I am not sharing my current employer sensitive information in any way against my company policy. I need to say this to keep me employed :)

TidBITS iPod & iPhone: 3G Cell Data iPhone Now Feasible

TidBITS iPod & iPhone: 3G Cell Data iPhone Now Feasible

The more reason for me to wait for getting an iPhone. Q2-2008 may be too long for some people, but it fits nicely with my cashflow prediction. My concern is more on who will be the "chosen one" to carry iPhone in Australia...

New iPod... Not yet

I was looking forward in getting the new iPod Classic. I am going for a trip and the idea of carrying enough loads of music and movies would enhance my trip's experience. And most of all, I thought I could upload photos from digital camera so I won't need carrying laptop everywhere.
But no. Luckily I did some research before I click the 'Add To Cart' button and apparently iPod Camera Connector does NOT work with new iPods. I was checking Australian store and they said it worked.
I checked US site and below was on the site:



And this is what was in Australian store:



This is contradicting with the feedback that it was not the case.

Apparently Apple updated the site on 14 September, but did not replicate that update in Australian store - I don't know about other countries. This is misleading and potentially creates dissatisfaction to customer who did not spend extra effort researching. Normal people would assume that the existing accessories should work. And I did not see visible communication from Apple on these changes.

I am holding back my desire to get iPod Classic just because of this.

And I could not imagine how this impacted the current iPod users who already invested significant amount of dollars on accessories and now became useless if they wanted to upgrade to new iPod. I think Apple should find a solution or otherwise we need to hack the iPods.

ARE THESE IPOD PHOTOS REAL?!?!?! Nevermind Apple told us to take them down.................... | 9 to 5 Mac

ARE THESE IPOD PHOTOS REAL?!?!?! Nevermind Apple told us to take them down.................... | 9 to 5 Mac

Apple is undoubtedly receive the highest attention this past years. Steve Job's product launches which used to be more like cult masses now had become Vatican masses by the pope. Some people I know that I would not imagine have the level of interest to Apple surprisingly aware when is Steve's keynote going to be held and speculate what product will be launched.
I have seen the power of "keeping it secret" have a huge impact in the success of the keynote. Best keynotes I have seen always involving something new and unexpected. I watched the keynote without knowing what to expect. Now I - just like most others - are speculating. It was different experience, before, not knowing means no disappointment (or less), speculating means you have set of expectations and will create additional disappointment should the expectation not met. More to that, keynote is also the benchmark of AAPL price.
That is why Apple is trying hard to keep it a secret, and it is not an easy job. In the industry structure where you are no longer own everything end-to-end, source of leakage are everywhere. You can protect yourself with NDA (non-Disclosure Agreement), but somehow temptation is always out there.
The good thing for me as consumer is the situation forced Apple to deliver even better products, because attention is there and they can't make mistakes. Remember Safari for Windows, hacked within 3 minutes of its release time... that kind of attention.
Anyway, I can't wait what comes next from bitten Apple. iPod Touch, iPod Pixo, MacBook Mini ... bring them on!

iMac Aluminum 2007

I went to Apple Reseller shop today. I had to see the new iMac and I did. I could feel the temptation to just swipe my card and to bring that home. It was beautiful - massively beautiful - they only had the 24 inch in stock. Played around a little bit and could feel the power - mind you, my latest Mac is 1st-gen Mac Mini.
I could not played around with iWork 08 as it was in trial mode and asked my email address. No way! That is how fresh the iMac was in the store, it was just taken out from the box and no settings from the store yet.
I spent some time with the store staffs admiring and adoring the iMac and I felt like a major Mac-Geek when I told them that in the new model there was no upgrade option for graphic card, and they did not realized that. They could tell that I am a Mac fan (if not guru, heh heh) and they took my words seriously. I told them I am waiting for MacBook Mini :P
I already put iMac in my want list as it is time for me to upgrade. I just need justification for 24 inch...

Tech world falls for Tom's foolery - Technology - smh.com.au

Tech world falls for Tom's foolery - Technology - smh.com.au

Ha ha ha! People are really buying any rumors about Apple.

Gamers get to 'execute' corrupt officials - Games - Technology - smh.com.au

Gamers get to 'execute' corrupt officials - Games - Technology - smh.com.au

The game seemed to be a bit too much - killing the sons and daughters as well? Maybe they need to 'soften' up a little bit and adjust to current relevance...

HD DVD Touts Sales Growth Over Blu-Ray's Decline

My prediction is partially formalized with cheap players driving the adoption rate...

clipped from www.engadget.com Besides moving low-priced HD DVD players, the HD DVD Promotional Group is taking advantage of Home Media Expo 2007 to announce its most recent sales data, with HD DVD going up, and Blu-ray going down. Specifically, the Nielsen Netratings mentioned show HD DVD hardware sales up 37 percent, and software sales up 20 percent from the first to the second quarter of this year.

Apple Knowledge Navigator

This is Apple's vision 20 years ago!

Microsoft Surface Comes To The Surface

It looks like an iPhone, works like an iPhone and more. I should admit that I am impressed with the product and a potential wish list if I can afford one. I just have a problem with no space under the table to put the feet under...

New from Google: Google Gears

While everyone attention is WSJ's D - Google launched beta version of Google Gear which allows web application runs locally. Below is the information I clipped from Google Gear site.

Google Gears (BETA) is an open source browser extension that enables web applications to provide offline functionality using following JavaScript APIs:
Store and serve application resources locally
Store data locally in a fully-searchable relational database
Run asynchronous Javascript to improve application responsiveness

System requirements:
• Mac OS X 10.2+
• Firefox 1.5+ and Internet Explorer 6.0+
Google Gears (BETA) is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux

This is currently for Google Reader, but I can see where it is going. Imagine you can do your Gmail, Calendar, Docs&Spreadsheet, and other Google application locally in any platform offline and online. You get yourself a full application experience! You don't need email client and office suite anymore - Microsoft, watch out.

I see a lot of potential with Gears and it will be interesting to see the transformation of computing experience because of this.