fplanque: IT world

Once again, Steve Jobs gave one of his legendary keynote addresses and once again he announced a lot a nice to breathtaking products and enhancements.

But once again, he left out quite a few details.

And once again, I am going to point them out!

Note: don't get me wrong, I love that stuff, I buy it all. I just wish the right stuff released in the right order..

Half baked iPhone enhancements

OK, nice software updates, but:

• Still no copy & paste! Can you believe that? ... but we have wiggling icons now
• Still no video capture. The hardware is there... but apparently marketing has decided you cannot use it.
• Still no podcast update "over the air"... but who cares, as long as the keynote is dubbed "Something in the air".
• Still no games (not that I personally care... but still)

Basically, this looked more like a $20 software release for the iPod touch (which is good, even if you need to pay) than an iPhone event. My bet is they're holding back some more about the iPhone. As Steve says at the end of the keynote: this is what they announced in the first 2 weeks of 2007. There are still 50 weeks to go! (Hint: the iPhone SDK is to be released at the end of February...)

Movie rentals

That was long anticipated. It's nice to have it, but:

• Movies start after 30 seconds and you can watch them almost live... right... if you have an exceptional broadband connection and you are downloading a standard def movie... no way is this going to happen for mere mortals ordering HD...
• Now if an HD movie ends up taking 10 hours to download... and you only have 24 hours to watch it, after you initially realized you only had 3 seconds to watch after 30 seconds... there's gonna be a problem. Let alone if you watch one evening and you get interrupted, you may not be able to watch the end before the next evening... more than 24 hours later. Bummer.
• Release dates are 1 month after DVD releases. So how long is this after you can get the DVD from NetFlix?
• OK, so I get the DVD from NetFlix... how do I insert that DVD into my Apple TV? I don't right? I need a separate DVD player... how convenient... Oh wait, I could use a Mac Mini instead of an Apple TV. Cool? No, not cool: how do I get the Apple TV software to install on the Mac Mini? Front Row there has barely been updated in years...

Btw, there's a lot more reasons to get a Mac Mini instead of an Apple TV: it gives you access to media that you can't get through Apple! Let's say Joost for starters...

Then Steve also said they asked users and they told him they didn't want music rentals... Why didn't he ask me? I still wish there was a monthly plan where you get unlimited music at 128 kbps (that you can only listen to as long as you're subscribed). That would still let Apple sell me the high quality 256 kbps versions of the songs I like the most.

MacBook Air

That one really kills the Sony TZ... but again:

• No Ethernet port!! Hello?? Yes I get the 802.11n pink tinted glasses moment... but what if you're in an hotel room that only has wired internet? It's only 2/3rds of the hotels out there...
• Why does Steve sounds so bored (if not evasive) when mentioning the environmental issues addressed in the making of the MacBook Air? Are those few extra dollars in production cost really bugging him that much?

Anyway... despite all this... I'm pretty excited to get my hands on all this stuff. The Time Capsule + Time Machine is brilliant integration!

OK, back to playing with my upgraded iPod Touch...

So that new iPod touch that Apple presented today is pretty nifty, isn't it? And Steve's keynote was pretty entertaining too.

Yeah well... there's quite a few missing features (no it's not the Beatles) that itch me... even before I lay down the $399 I will no doubt end up spending on this (nonetheless) beautiful peace of art. And Especially:

Podcasts: yes, so it has WiFi and a browser and an online music store... but what about podcasts? You subscribe to podcast in order to get new episodes when they become available. The least I'd expect from a WiFi enabled portable podcast player is to actually get the episodes of the podcasts I'm subscribed too. Not a single word about that...

...well maybe it is actually there. Maybe Steve just didn't mention it because they haven't found a way to gently rip you off with it, as they're getting ready to do with their iPhone ringtone business! Think about it: you already bought a full length song (at a fairly high price). Now Apple lets you clip out 10 seconds of that song to use as a ring tone. All you have to do is pay another $.99 for those 10 seconds you already have on your iPone! Why exactly did people applause to that?

Email: can you name one single good reason why this thing doesn't include a POP3/IMAP mail client? Does Apple's partnership with Google go so far they're going to encourage us to use Gmail instead?

And by the way, if Google rules, where's the Google maps application?

Edit: The new $20 iPod Touch upgrade finally addresses that!

Games: Steve proudly showed off the games on the new iPod nano. What about the iPod touch? Can I play all the games I purchased for my iPod "classic" on my soon to be iPod touch? Odds look pretty bad...

PDA features: This device now clearly has the capabilities of a top of the line PDA. It just lacks some software to do it right. Todo lists, anyone? Can you at least edit your calendar and contacts on the go? You couldn't do it with the previous iPods and Steve didn't mention it. It would be odd not to be able to do it, but then again, the software on this one is so trimmed down compared to the iPhone that I'm a little scared...

Edit: you can now edit calendar and contents in version 1.1.2.

Now of course, what I should really do is get an iPhone... Especially at the new $399 price! Yeah... if only they were available in Europe... (fingers crossed for Apple Expo Paris this September).

Camera: Actually, now the iPhone is just $100 more than the iPod, does it really make sense not to have a camera built into the high-end iPod? ... well, that would make it a killer blogger tool for sure. And again, the iPhone is *not* available everywhere, not even in certain regions of the US where there is no AT&T coverage...

Everybody's talking about Apple's release of their Safari web browser for Windows.

And everybody's speculating about how Apple needs to convince Windows developers to make their sites iPhone compatible (the iPhone includes Safari) or how Apple wants to extend towards the PC users...

Oh please!

Come on! There is one single reason above any other for Apple to release Safari on Windows: Google gives them a commission each time they send someone to Google through the embedded search box!

Firefox is making millions by sending eyeballs to Google (and their ads). Why wouldn't Apple? Especially since it can't hurt them...

Or... can it hurt them? Hackers suddenly finding vulnerabilities in Safari...

At Apple's last special event, after introducing the new iPods, Steve Jobs added this:

"We've got some new packagings for the new nano as well. And it's 52% less volume. This turns out to be an environmentally great thing. Because it dramatically reduces the amount of fossile fuels we have to spend to move these things around the planet."

Isn't that odd?

I mean, I have been religiously watching Uncle Steve's speeches for at least two years now, and I believe this is the first time he's been mentioning the environment in one of his one man shows. More than that, he actually seemed pretty proud about Apple's contribution to the environment.

Well... yeah... I could be almost happy about it... If only Apple was really concerned about the environment! But so far, all I heard is "look we're saving a lot of money on shipping costs and that will help us be cheaper than the Zune".

But there's another reason for Jobs showing his environment friendly side. (Check out their updated environment page on Apple's site).

The real reason is Greenpeace! They came out with a report on how environment friendly consumer electronics manufacturers actually are. And guess what? Apple is close to the last!

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On the last Apple special event, Steve Jobs was almost bragging about the fact that 70% of new cars sold in the US this year had (optional!) iPod “integration” available…

Obviously, he didn’t talk about the rest of the world. But most of all, what Steve didn’t tell us, is how crappy the existing “integration” solutions actually are!

At the very same time, I was at Apple Expo 2006 in Paris, checking out what the car manufacturers had to offer…

iPod & Audi TT

iPod “integration” with the Audi TT

Audi was showing off their new TT. Nice car. Wanna check the inside? You gotta ask the blonde to unlock it for you…

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