At a special press event Apple unveiled several new products today. They updated the entire iMac line, equipping them with 1.9 to 2.1 Ghz G5 processors, iPod-like 6-button remote control, built-in iSight and thinner enclosures. Apple also introduced new iPods, capable of playing 320×240 MPEG4/H.264 video, and it has a video-OUT. iTunes 6 is available now, and already there are 2000 music videos available in the iTMS. You will also be able to buy TV shows from the iTMS. Update: Sad news for the fans of the original CRT iMac: it seems that the eMac has been phased out. It is no longer available on the Apple Store website.
H.264 video very good compression, the best I’ve seen. Things just keep getting better and better.
So as of yet we haven’t seen IBM Dual-Core Chips they touted about or low powered once for the Powerbook.
If this is the case then I think the Xbox 360 is in trouble.
Because a completely unrelated chip from IBM, which we all know to be a cut down cheap chip anyway, is going in it? Please explain.
Um … the chip (Xenon) that’s going in the X-Box, while a PPC chip is not at all really suited to typical computing work. Ars Technica explains:
This brings me back to a statement I made at the beginning of this section, where I said that the PPE’s deep pipeline was designed to pack a lot of streaming media performance into a small amount of die space. At that point, you were probably thinking that deeply pipelined processors like the Pentium 4 tend to have large die sizes, and if you were thinking so then you were right. However, a deep pipeline doesn’t have to spell a large die size, if you throw out the instruction window along with most of the hardware that’s intended to help the deep pipeline work well with branchy code.
If you don’t code things very carefully, specifically for this chip, your programs will run dog-slow, and even if you code for this chip, because of its design there are certain tasks it will NEVER do well at despite its clock speed.
It’s a PPC Chip, but it’s not a member of the Power/G5 family and cannot do the same kind of all purpose heavy lifting that they do. Again at Ars Technica:
I originally thought that the PPE design shared by the Cell and the Xenon was derived from the PowerPC 970/POWER5 lineage. This is certainly not the case for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that if IBM could produce a triple-core 970 derivative we’d certainly have seen at least a dual-core 970 derivative in a Mac by now.
You can read the full article here.
http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/cpu/xbox360-2.ars
If this is the case then I think the Xbox 360 is in trouble.
The xbox360 has been in mass production for a number of weeks now.
what does the Xbox 360 have to do with this article!!!?
What a cool company.
How long will it take before someone develops a dead simple way of ripping a DVD and re-encoding it in H.264 video at 320×240 resolution? My guess is not long. It shouldn’t be hard to set up something like AutoGK specifically for this purpose.
I believe Handbrake already allows this
You have been able rip dvds and re-encode them in h.264 for a while now. It is still pretty slow, compared to some of the other mpeg-4 video profiles, but doable and now I have all the more reason for doing so.
>You have been able rip dvds and re-encode them in h.264 for a while now.
I know it’s possible but it requires configuring and combining existing tools. What I want is a software solution where you insert the DVD, press a button, wait a few hours and get a video file ready to play. Dead simple.
Handbrake (http://handbrake.m0k.org/) can rip a DVD to H.264. Check it out. I used it to rip a few DVDs and it works very well but is very slow – a 2 pass rip to H.264 took several hours on a Xserve.
While it can rip from DVD drive, a faster way is to use MacTheRipper to rip DVD to hard disk and then run Handbrake on the VOB file.
it is called handbrake
How to rip movies to your Video iPod
http://diveintomark.org/howto/ipod-dvd-ripping-guide/
Isn’t iTunes 5 something like less than 2 months old? WTF!?
I thought the same thing. They had to know this was coming, so why not just wait and not do iTunes 5?
apple.com is soooooooo sloooooooow….
Wow, can buy the TV shows!! I am insteresting to know if they included the subtitle/closed caption? I am trying to find this info in iTunes section at apple.com, but I couldn’t find anything about it.
BTW: I am deaf, so I need the subtitle/closed caption. 😉
Well, seeing as how they’ve done a lot of work to add accessability features to Mac OS X, I would be suprised if they neglected to add what you need to their service.
Even if they did forget to do so, I am sure that it would soon be added.
Time will tell.
Anybody with knoweldge of H.264/MPEG4 codecs know if closed captioning meta-data can be embedded in ther stream?
Seeing as how Steve Jobs himself has made personal design choices to suit his partial deafness in the original iPod (by allowing louder than normal decibel levels) I think he would be the first person to implement such a feature if it were technically feasible.
Curious… why would you buy a music player if you are deaf?
Curious… why would you buy a music player if you are deaf?
Not sure if it’s me that you are asking. Did you read this article and my comment complete? My question was for “TV shows”, which you can just download from iTunes and play from there on the computer. The iPod or music player is not required.
With 320×240 resolution any CC would give you a headache to try to read at any size worth watching.
With 320×240 resolution any CC would give you a headache to try to read at any size worth watching.
From an article (CNET) in the first link said, “Indeed, for now, the video highlighted by Jobs is best suited for small screens, although Apple’s software enhances the quality significantly for watching on a large screen. The 320-by-240 resolution can be expanded for a full-screen LCD (liquid-crystal display) TV or computer monitor, but will not have the quality of a DVD.”
^^^^Because now it supports video! And QuickTime supports subtitles for which I think it wouldn’t be that difficult for CC to be in there. Send in a request over at Apple.com
There you go my friend!
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/hearing/index.html#quicktime
QuickTime
QuickTime allows you to create and display a text track to provide closed captioning.
Visual Alert
Mac OS X offers a visual alert to notify you when there is an alert in the operating system or applications. The visual alert flashes the whole screen to let you know that a window or dialogue requires your attention.
iChat and iSight
iChat AV is the first video conferencing solution with performance and clarity good enough for you to communicate using sign language over the Internet. It produces high quality video good enough to clearly see the finger and hand movements of the person with whom your communicating, giving you the technology to communicate from afar with the same range of emotion you use in person.
I bought one of the videos and I don’t see any way to turn it on. Sorry but you should still submit a request. I’ll do the same. Any people reading this should do the same.
Here or in iTunes feedback button.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/
Don’t forget “home movies”, a.k.a. the PornPod!
you mean the pr0np0d, don’t you ^^
Actual CPU Speeds 1.9 and 2.1, Just checked on Apple.com
Actual CPU Speeds 1.9 and 2.1, Just checked on Apple.com
Thanks, it’s fixed.
i speculate….. that we will soon be able to use the internet on this lil badboy…
and then 3rd party apps.
..and a smart phone version of the iPod will be released..
even the president of the united states has a personal iPod.
is this not logical? battery life won’t be the issue unless if the 3rd party app is big then your probably run out of memory, but who needs a big app on a PDA?
i tell you, its slowly occuring and i image if they don’t do it they will regret it.
bye-bye windows mobile, symbian, korean PalmOS
Together with the PSP people, we will now start releasing videos in H.264 format. f–k divx. f–k avi.
As long as they pick up more TV shows this could be a very good thing. And it looks like they are positioning the iMac as a Media center with the TV downloads. If they could get the SciFi Friday shows(SG1, Atlantis and BSG), I could stop stealing cable.
For a second there i thought i read that they released a G5 Mac Mini. Something i would buy tomorrow if they had done it.
While I really like the new features of the iMac, there is of course one major feature missing that should’ve been included in order to make this new iMac really special:
TV decoder, damnit!
I’d sell my iBook in a heartbeat if this thing had a TV decoder. Now, the new things simply don’t justify a purchase.
TV decoder, damnit!
I think they may eventually intend for iTunes to take the place of a tuner.
There is always an excuse for not buying a Mac! If it did have a TV tuner, I guess very little work would be done! I consider that the absence makes it a blessing in some ways or I would be watching stuff when I needed to get things done on the computer! I guess a cheap USB-TV tuner can fix that deficiency for you, if it is that important.
Built-in iSight and the form factor is big plus IMHO.
A solid entry into the Media Center PCs, nevertheless.
Considerably less expensive than the all-in-one Sony 20″ TV-PC ($2,699 for Sony® VAIO® V TV-PC SeriesVGC-V620G 20″ TV-PC)
yes, i agree, some people don’t want the extra cost of TV tuner.
but i also agree with the fact this is really missing feature, from my own stand point.
why not proposing this as an option.
yeah! of course there are potentially external firewire/usb boxes that does the job, but the reason why you buy a mac and not a PC with MythTV on linux, is because it’s sexy and reliable.
add the appendice external grey (at best) firewire TV-tuner and yecks… it doesn’t fit in the design homevideo room (that i do not have either 🙂
customizability of imacs is reduced to barely more RAM… ok. the whole machine is good, but feels like handcuffed. telescopic LCD iMac 15″ from my relatives is still decent at 800Mhz, which favorably compares to a PC same generation frankely… i really miss the option…
If Apple misses space, why not offer the ability to expend the thickness of the beast like a luggage with zipper. another 1/2 inch thick wouldn’t kill anyone, since no-one carries iMac…
i was thinking of buying for my relativ to replace current iMac, but i scrapped the idea just because of this missing “embedded capability”
frontRow without TV receiver doesn’t make sens for the hard earn $$$.
I agree. I hope the G5 iMac + FrontRow is just Apple’s test run, because as it stands the iMac G5 is pretty useless as a PVR / media center PC for most people.
There’s the lack of a TV tuner, and the apparent lack of record ability (or indeed, any video-in other than firewire). So it’s pretty much limited to playing back media you already have and stuff you get via the Apple-approved online methods.
And Apple’s marketing pages for it are full of references to using the iMac G5 in the living room. I suspect that anyone dropping $1700 on a “media PC” already has a large TV and is not going to settle for a 20″ display in their living room. As a media PC, I think it’s really only useful for people like me who also use their computer as a stereo, TV, and DVD player. But we’re also the type of people who would put together a cheap PC with an OEM copy of XP MCE or MythTV – in other words, not typical Mac buyers.
I think that FrontRow (with some basic DVR features) + Mac mini (with video in/out) would be a much more attractive package. Something like that would be a perfect fit for people like my dad and stepmother. They’re the type of people who complain if I give them a CD of burned Daily Shows, “I have to watch them on the computer, I’d rather watch them in the living room.” They’re not going to replace their current TV with an iMac, but they’d happily add something like a Mini+FrontRow to their existing setup.
Well, what kind of TV tuner should the iMac include? There’s tens of TV standards, and all of them are substantially different from each other.
NTSC antenna/cable? Satellite? PAL antenna/cable? Satellite? SECAM? Brazilian NTSC? Japanese NTSC? Which of the (at least) three PAL standards? Or maybe DVB? DVB-T, -S, -C or -H? Or that new Korean format?
All of these formats are used, and it is possible to reasonably argue for their use in their respective niches. The easiest way, IMHO, would be to add a simple API[1] for TV tuners to Mac OS, and have that integrate with FrontRow. Until that happens, I’ll use EyeTV with my 60 € external DVB tuner.
[1] Actually, as far as APIs go, the MMInput API (http://www.defyne.org/dvb/driver.html) is very nice. If only some other program than iTele would support it.
Well, what kind of TV tuner should the iMac include?
I don’t think the iMac is a very good package for a media PC, period, because of the built-in display. I can’t imagine someone using it to replace a larger TV, so you’re pretty much limited to people who have TVs smaller than 20″ and are looking for an upgrade, or have no TV at all. I don’t think that describes the typical Mac buyer.
I’m sure it would be great in a place where space is at a real premium, though.
There’s tens of TV standards, and all of them are substantially different from each other.
I’m not really up on the latest home theatre tech, but I’d be surprised if there weren’t tuner/video-in hardware available that supports the most common of those standards.
Brazilian NTSC?
Just as a side note (not really related with this story):
Brazil uses “PAL-M” system… it’s something between standard PAL and NTSC… it has what’s better in each one (PAL’s resolution and 60i frames per second).
http://www.genesippc.com/press.php?date=20050624
You are right!
It isn’t for peoples’ living rooms. It is for their *DORM* rooms.
But regular TV decoding is dead easy.. I think there were some external firewire boxes that did it a few years ago… ATI has a USB2 all-in-wonder.. [They’d be fools not to post EXCELLENT mac drivers for it right now!!!]
I’m more interested in component out for high def displays. This is the ONE thing nobody does right yet [nobody can seem to get HDTV output and normal monitor working without “hacking” one or the other] … The iMac has an external VGA port [and it’s ATI based] so an external doggle should be trivial…. Due to the screen resolution 1080i would be a little too hard [1920 x 1080] but 720p [1280 x 720] would be a just right match to the iMacs resolution
That raises a good question; how about an addon allows one not only to view the television programme, but to also record it at the same time? sure, it would probably require a breakout box about the same size as the iPod (plus a re-chargeable battery), but at the same time, I could imagine there would be quite a big demand for something like that.
Just get an El Gato TV box for the iMac. I have it and it’s amazing.
http://elgato.com/
I found on on froogle.google.com for $230
“TV decoder, damnit!”
That, and a touch screen. That’d be damn cool.
It would have been better if the remote control used bluetooth, and that you could buy it separately, bundled with FrontRow. I think it would be pretty popular for keynote slides, and for all the mac minis hooked up to bigscreen tvs.
You can buy the Apple remote seperately. It works with most ipods with the latest dock. $29.99.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wo/…
I don’t understand why Apple gets so much attention when they update products. I’m not just talking about OSNews here, but almost every news outlet. As I type this, it’s currently on the front page of Yahoo with an article written by Reuters. I’ve never seen a headline for HP when they update their Pavilion line or for Sony when they announce a new Walkman. I don’t see how this is any different. Am I missing something?
Apple delivers great products with great marketing finese. So, they ain’t perfect… they don’t blow us away with everything everyone can dream up, they don’t make it for a dollar… et al.
yet, they are moving in a purposeful positive motion.
I really want these new products, now I have to figure how NOT to get into any more debt.
What you are missing is the “Hollywood Culture” behind Apple. I’m not talking Jobs and Pixar, or even movies in general. What I mean is they have a firmly rooted “Carny Showman” type of atmosphere. Dell, HP, Compaq, even Microsoft is about steady business releases. John Deere tractors, Freightliner semis, they all update their product and the news channels look at Dell the way they look at the new Kenworth.
“Business as usual.”
Standard updates, better cloth on the seats, AM/*FM* radio in the cab, but still the same stodgy, built for the long haul, solid steel feel as yesterday.
Apple in the other breath is the lean sleek sports car, the new Mustang, the new Corvette. They slowly begin to whisper to the news community. They get the reporters really worked into a fury, who work the buying public into a frenzy. Then they unveil it at a major showing. With everyone watching with baited breath on the edge of their seats.
“Apple in the other breath is the lean sleek sports car, the new Mustang, the new Corvette. They slowly begin to whisper to the news community. They get the reporters really worked into a fury, who work the buying public into a frenzy. Then they unveil it at a major showing. With everyone watching with baited breath on the edge of their seats.”
This is about as good an evocation of the feelings evoked by this cult as one will ever find. All the elements, the breathlessness, the association with glamorous cars, above all, the projection of ones own hysterical feelings, which are attributed to a largely bemused crowd of spectators… Notice by the way, how downmarket it all is – the Mustang and the Corvette are seen as the height of glamour in this milieu! And notice the lack of restraint and bashfulness. Can one imagine the Vuitton customer posting this sort of stuff? They would run a mile.
But yes, this is indeed how it feels to be a committed participant in this odd world.
With everyone watching with baited breath on the edge of their seats.
i think you mean bated breath
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bai1.htm
Marketing babe! Even if Apple sold junk, people would get excited over it. Apple has the talent and resources to make bad things look good and good things look better.
Well, if you want a serious answer to the question, its because it is a consumer cult. Its one of those brands like Vuitton, Rolex, B&O, which has an appeal which is largely unrelated to product features or pricing. A small section of the buying public really does feel that buying Apple products is doing something other than just buying something, in some way it defines you, shows who you are, maybe even makes you something different. You may like this or loathe it, but it is a fact. People identify with Apple as something more than a manufacturer.
Now with Apple its more extreme than with the other brands I mentioned, partly because of the Internet – there is a constant stream of reinforcing postings from like minded people, and the like minded people are a bit less sophisticated, and more liable to be explicit about their feelings. See for instance the very amusing postings about Ferraris and so on in this thread.
Its very dangerous for Apple. It is true that this is a public which can be relied on to buy, but it also turns off a large proportion of the market, and the image only works if you stay a minority. So they are always walking a tightrope. Too much share, you lose them. Too little share, you’re unviable. Innovate right, you have them. Get it wrong, and they will cry betrayal. Very very tricky stuff.
But, they are good at riding the tiger…. So far.
Just in case someone else hasn’t said this, it’s because updates by H-P and all the others are usually boring at best and pure hype at worst. Like Apple or not, but give them credit for launching new products that actaully do something new, not “new” products that do the same old thing afew mHz’s faster.
It’s also because Steve Jobs puts on a much better show and knows how to work the media better than anyone else in the industry. Part of getting coverage is knowing how to blow your own horn.
“It’s also because Steve Jobs puts on a much better show and knows how to work the media better than anyone else in the industry. Part of getting coverage is knowing how to blow your own horn.”
better known as the reality distrotion field
hell, i was watching a video linked in a lisa comment and well, the guy knows how to gets peoples attention. i must say that it was one of the more funny product displays that i have seen.
Unlike most, Apple innovets. Hence they get the publicity!
Because HP royally suck at marketing their products; coupled with their total lack of R&D when it comes to developing their products – hence the reason I say for people to purchase the cheaper Dell for your desktop and SUN for servers; don’t waste your time with HP.
HP marketing is so bad, the best way to describe it is to quote an analyst, “if HP sold sushi, they would market it as raw fish wrapped up in sticky rice and seaweed” – hardly an appetising dish when you’re told that!
Oh, and btw, the Mini-disks were marketed to the hills – the fact is, they still sucked, only a few gadget obsessed people bought it, whilst the rest of us waited for something better – iPod is that something better; it dominates the music player market with its ease of use, great software bundle and targetted marketing; it didn’t get there by accident – it addresses what people want not what the executives think what the consumers want.
I don’t understand why Microsoft gets so much attention when Apple upgrades their products.
Because Apple has revolutionized an entire industry and created one of the top global brands. That’s why. Last time I checked, the HP Pavillion hasn’t gone very far in the way of changing the way people work and play. The iPod has.
When in the 80’s you can bet the Sony Walkman got this kind of attention. The iPod is a cultural phenomenon. The Walkman two decades later is not headline-worthy — and neither is the Pavillion.
I can’t wait ’till they sue http://www.centerstageproject.com/ for having the same UI as FrontRow.
“I’ve never seen a headline for HP when they update their Pavilion line or for Sony when they announce a new Walkman. I don’t see how this is any different. Am I missing something?”
HP did when they release the HP Apple iPod.
You mean HP computers, cameras, and laser printers are EXCITING? They are boring and I’m a HP Tech.
We talk about APPLE in the computer industry, good or bad! Apple always gets advertisement.
“You mean HP computers, cameras, and laser printers are EXCITING? They are boring and I’m a HP Tech.”
No, I’m saying that Apple computers, media players, etc are NOT exciting. At least not enough to be in headline news right below a story about a magnitude 7.7 earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people. It just seems like Apple gets free advertising from the media and I can’t see why. They’re just a company like any other.
Apple get all the attention in the media because most of the desktop publishing/web design work etc is done by designers who use apple computers for their work. Naturally they are more interested when apple releases new products than say when HP release new products.
Get a clue. Desktop publishing/web design people don’t make edtorial decisons at newspapers, press agencies, TV networks, etc. In fact, they don’t even work there.
“They’re just a company like any other”
What drugs are taking?
Apple is a technology company on the move. Unlike the rest of the technology sector at the moment.
“I can’t wait ’till they sue http://www.centerstageproject.com/ for having the same UI as FrontRow.”
Totally different UI
i’m glad h.264 is starting to get some more recognition in popular devices. It really is a great compression. On the PSP, i compress movies at 368×208 resolution and the average filesize is ~300MB. And the video quality looks better than what you get from typical ~700MB Xvid rips.
That being said, i’ll stick with the PSP for video and iPod for music.
The interesting thing I think (when looking at the specs) is that surely the Powermacs have to be upgraded pretty soon? Consider:
PowerMac: DDR 400 RAM
iMac: DDR2 RAM
PowerMac: PCI & AGP
iMac: PCIe graphics
DDR2 doesn’t have much benefit for desktop systems, though it is great for good performance with low power consumption. Makes it ideal for the iMac G5, especially with the new slimmer design.
I don’t think we’ll see PowerPC Power Macs with PCIe since the MacIntels will probably be able to use regular (rather than Mac-specific) PCIe videocards as long as drivers are available.
Did they improve the battery life for the iPod? That’s my main problem with it, after 18 months my iPod’s battery was useless (although I managed to replace it with a 3rd party so I guess I just gave it 2 more years of lifespan)
All this shows what a great company it is.
More people ought to start realising this..
swweeet!
and there’s so much more to come never forget.
keep it up..
If you load the QTVR movie here:
http://www.apple.com/hardware/gallery/ipod/
you will notice that the new iPod no longer has the remote/accessory connector on the top. Just the dock connector at the bottom and the headphone jack on the top. So lots of neat accessories, microphones etc. will no longer work or will need some kind of connector to the dock port (just guessing here)…
Two things I’ve noticed straight off-
1) No “companion” port to the headphones, so a lot of the old peripherals (before “Made for iPod”) look like they’re redundant for the new hardware across the line.
2) No firewire (same as Shuffle and Nano).
I like Firewire. It would have made “Transfer from DVCam” an option as well as “Transfer from Camera” on the iPods, too. Oh well.
“I like Firewire. It would have made “Transfer from DVCam” an option as well as “Transfer from Camera” on the iPods, too. Oh well.”
The only thing is that MiniDV tapes and their ilk are super cheap in comparison with HD storage on an iPod, or solid state memory chips. There is no real reason for this, just buy another $7 tape and you can shoot another 90 minutes of video, then wipe it later and reuse it.
seems like the new imac is Apple’s answer to Windows MCE. lol
i dont know how apple do it, everytime they release a new product it just gets better!
This is what you do when your share price drops. You have a reserve of updates and upgrades (in one case, updating software that is only 2 months old since the last update), and when your share price drops, you release them the next trading day, for a quick grab at publicity / investor attention.
because itunes 5 was really just to support the nano..
not saying they couldn’t have just done a small update to 4.X, but then.. who really cares?!
if there is outrage, it should be over the musical note in the icon not having changed since version 4
What resolutions will the TV-episodes have? I have been asking for this for a long time: the possibility to download TV-episodes when they’re aired in the USA (and not two f–king years later, thank you, swedish TV-companies) in good quality for a decent fee (but IMO 2$ is too expensive).
It kinda sucks that only two networks are behind it ATM. And that it doesn’t work on the OS I’m using (but who would expect Apple to support anything other than OSX and Win)
Can it add and play divx/mpeg videos to iTunes? Quicktime plays them fine (with the right codec installed).
doesnt work here at my powerbook
Where can I get the divx codec for QuickTime? I found a web site that I can download a divx player for the Mac, but it is not compatable with Tiger and QuickTime 7 as of today.
Video Lan Player and by-pass quicktime player. Videolan is awesome. Opensource too.
http://www.videolan.org/
the eMac is still available for schools to purchase. It’s on the higher education web site, at least. (it doesn’t appear to be available to students and teachers, though. Just for institutions to buy for labs and stuff)
Which is how it started out anyway. (“eMac” == “education Mac”) .. it wasn’t until several months after the original eMac release that Apple made it available to individuals.
I agree, a Power Mac update must be coming soon. the iMac now has PCI Express for graphics (Power Mac uses 8x AGP, and has PCI or PCI-X slots for other cards) and the iMac now uses 533 MHz DDR2 memory (the Power Mac still uses 400 MHz DDR)
Olympus 20gb mp3 player with 3.2 ” screen and 1.2megapixel camera.
$199 dollars. From Circuit City’s sunday ad.
Beat that !
Good line update…
It’s a bit odd to see iTunes in version 6 just after version 5 was released, but it’s all marketing and hype, right?
The new full-size iPods has a look more close to the new iPod nano line, but it would be far more atractive with they used a wide-screen aspect for the video series… like PSP has… It would also make the compact and full-size iPods more different, as the compact ones resemble a candy stick theses days and a wide-screen iPod would look a bit different… If you’re concerned about the UI, they could just make it detect the iPod position and change the UI orientation, as some digital cameras detect with wich orientation you took the photo.
I would like them putting a standard USB2 type B connection (and maybe charging) on the player instead of trying to sell cables for the poor customers… But well, it’s Apple… You can only buy digital content with them too… (would be great also if they make iPods free–as in freedom–to costumers buy stuff from whoever they want… but, again, it’s Apple…)
Any word if it’ll be able to play your converted videos or just the ones brought in the Apple’s Music Store?
I won’t even ask about Ogg Vorbis support because we all know Apple won’t support it if the can’t sell it… but they’re loosing some market share in Asia by not supporting the format. iTunes-less compatibility (like USB MSC support) would be dreaming too much too…
Their Front Row software looks nice too… I hope more vendors will put Media Center and similar software together with their PC now!
The bad thing is S-Video requiring an adapter sold separately… But well, it’s Apple…
But again, it’s all nice upgrades… Apple still Apple, but they actually made their products better even if they don’t make some changes to play nicely with the rest of the industry and thinking in user instead of selling it as “larger userbase”…
Somebody correct me if I was hallucinating, but I thought I saw that the Mighty Mouse comes standard with the new iMac.
it does!
who knows 10.5 maybe 2 button supported as standard
2 and 3 button mice have been fully supported since 10.0. It’s even possible for them to work on 9. Most apps, including the Finder include Windows-style right-click menus.
I used a two-button USB optical mouse with my CRT iMac until it broke down.
dear some people cant guess sarcasm.
“The interesting thing I think (when looking at the specs) is that surely the Powermacs have to be upgraded pretty soon? Consider:
PowerMac: DDR 400 RAM
iMac: DDR2 RAM
PowerMac: PCI & AGP
iMac: PCIe graphics”
Upgrade to what? Seems IBM can’t get faster chips out or even lower powered ones. IBM could of had the whole Mac market it if would of been able to supple chips. Figure there are 2-970’s in each Powermac, 1-970 in each if they would of back their word(ibm said they have low-powered 970s)they could of been shipping 1.5 million chips each quarter easily!
If Microsoft drops IBM in a few years, who will they have to purchase 970s or the newer chips?
Yeah, Mighty Mouse is standard with iMac now.
So Apple finally ripped off the media centre PCs. And as predicted, all of the fanboys are soiling their diapers. Pathetic.
Check this out: http://www.lowendmac.com/500/mactv.shtml. The old Mac TV, released in 1993, could also record video and had a built-in TV tuner. Had remote and everything. MS’ Media Center PC came much later. The new iMac is much sleeker and trumps all Media Center PCs, IMHO.
But it doesn’t really look like something you’d put in your living room. And it’s not big enough. I agree with the guy who said put out the remote and the software separately for people to use with the Mac Mini…
of course, I use freevo on an HTPC. disadvantage – two days of essentially undocumented configuration. (and the configuration file’s a python script. ugh.). advantage – it does more stuff. horses for courses…
I am surprised that the apple remoted isn’t currently available for the mac mini, as it would surely fine it’s way into more houses if it was designed to integrate with the tv. Maybe it will work with a usb dongle, or maybe they will ship the apple anointed home theater intergration pack.
Video ipod is nice, and I have been waiting until the 30gb model came out before I considered buying (I knew it was comming, and who wants to have the old model), now I probibly will.
…no Vorbis. sigh.
i hate to say this but the new imac line is interesting
but i think ill wait until they are done with the intel transfer until i evaluate it for a buy.
guess it truly is the century of the self…
They really really need to make a Linux iTunes.
I know some people that wont switch to linux just because iTunes isnt supported in Linux.
Not that Linux is a big market or anything, but it would bring in some new customers, and make alot of people happy. I would be.
Yes I know there is OSS for the players, but there just not as well designed as iTunes. And ive had bad luck with them.
Right. Make an iTunes for Linux and eliminate a reason to buy Apple hardware. Sure.
You, obviously, are not in business school.
But think of all the added music sales which could mean more iPod sales. Many use Linux because they don’t believe in stealing. These are the same people that might like an iTunes music store.
Many Mac fans and Windows users have thousands of dollars of stolen software on their computers and then go and cut down OSS because it is portrayed as crappy. So the same people who would use GIMP as opposed to stealing Photoshop might buy Fair Play crippled music.
Thats right,
from my experience of observing people on different platforms, a significant majority of people on the Windows and Mac platforms don’t think twice about stealing software and music/video downloads, but those on Linux generally have a wider view of using their OS in a wider context and generally don’t steal software or download copyrighted music and video.
Photoshop and GIMP is a very good example here. GIMP is available to the windows platform, but most people I know with Windows have a copy of Photoshop. In addition to their large collections of ‘sharing-network’ acquired music and video.
an iTunes on Linux would certainly be very welcome. I would use it!
Hi I did not go to business school, but I think you neither. iTunes always brings in an iPod and that means $$$ for Apple. If iTunes wouldn’t have been released to WIndows sure it won’t have the market share it owns. Make an iTunes for Linux will mean that you get those tiny (but growing) part of the market who won’t shop in your store because of lack of support. Linux users do not go the iTunes route, they go the standard mp3 player route, and so Apple looses that $$$.
My 2 cent.
Like 99% others, I feel that this begs the question: which distro or distros to target? Until “Linux” referrs to a greater standard than a kernel, “Linux” can kiss commercial applications good bye.
And this comes from an avid Ubuntu user…
Create a statically linked binary, and it should run anywhere – there are plenty of examples of this. Please keep your FUD to yourself.
>> They really really need to make a Linux iTunes. <<
There is one, called “MP3Tunes” and is available from Linspire, Inc.
Not sure if it works on other distributions other than Linspire. But, I think the answer is yes.
Those built-in isight is a minus for me, because you can’t move around the cam anymore. If it would be in a detachable unit, well… But this fixed stuff? No!
Well that’s just great, only a day after I got a nano. Who wants a nano?
Who wants a nano?
me; and ive only been waiting on my order for 3 weeks now… who wants a brick in their pocket when they can have more music than they can listen to without recharging the battery in a much smaller package?
the port layout is different, horizontally across the bottom, as well as no modem is included; there is an optional 56k usb modem.
a movie over to the video iPOD?. I have the Tivo to go service but it takes for an eternity to transfer a 30minute show from my tivo to my PC
I do wish people would drop the iTunes Tux thing because:
1) even if they did – you still wouldn’t use it because “product x” is better. You would whine your arses raw like you do with _every_ _fuggin_ _thing_
2) It’s not “free”
3) DRM
4) Where’s the source code? Not good enough
…
Yeah, it would be alot better if the iPODs would just show up as an usb storage device *and* let you move music over that way.
since you make that comment you obviously dont understand the inner workings of the ipod. its got a database of all the song details (name, artist etc) and a reference to the songs hashed file name. that filename hashing doesnt do itself, itunes needs to do it. if you just dumped them all on it as a usb device it would have to read all that data from each mp3 EVERY TIME it wanted it, wasting cpu cycles and battery life. its not just apple trying to piss you off, its all for a reason
Oh, I admit I didn’t know about that. It would still be possible, if Apple really wanted to, by making the iPOD update its indexes itself whenever a file was written (would’ve been really, really cool). I totally understand that Apple didn’t bother messing with this though. They just sold one less iPOD, that’s all.
funny. last time i checked, the iriver series of players do just that, updates itself on the id3 tags when fired up after a change in the filesystem.
only use of the database that i see is the rating of songs and the ability for the player to know when a song have not been played for time and so on. this allows it to dig out songs you have not heard for some time when requested.
this can allso allow it to seem intelligent in that if you select away some song it can remove the same style and group/person from the playlist so that you dont have to do it any more.
i think the term is bayesian maths. basicly its a way to calculate the actions of a person, and why they are what they are. microsoft used it in their paperclip helper in a office series and is exploring other uses for this kind of tech.
but for someone thats used to organize their music by way of winamp or xmms playlists its overkill. for the unwashed masses however it will appear as if the player have an ai embedded in it. same deal with itunes as they basicly share the database.
In my country in Europe only 2 video podcasts are available. I have the dejavu of the opening of the music store.
who cares when the centre of the world is the USA
that makes the new ipod in here less appealing
Right. Make an iTunes for Linux and eliminate a reason to buy Apple hardware. Sure.
As if a linux user would come to apple hardware only for the i-tunes.Some would like to use i-tunes but stay on linux no matter what.
TV tuner? Who needs one when you have firewire…
Just get your self a HD receiver with built in firewire and capture your “TV” stream directly to the hard drive.
Blah!
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20040426151111599
And then wait for your cable company to notice the loophole and close it with a compulsory firmware update. FUN TIMES!
Itunes runs in linux with Wine
It would be nice if the lcd had a video input, if not actually a tv decoder. I suppose you can get some products that will work through the USB or firewire ports for video in or tv?
It would be nice if the lcd had a video input, if not actually a tv decoder. I suppose you can get some products that will work through the USB or firewire ports for video in or tv?
Yeh it would be cool to have built in TV, but you can currently use this sleek unit to pick up TV, and DVB, and record it – http://www.elgato.com/index.php?file=products_eyetvmain
The iPod is clearly becoming the device to consume media.
I wonder if in the future it won’t become a MIDP compliant device seeing as how Apple already has its own Java VM for the MacOSX and more than ample expertise in Java technologies.
Games would then become another category in iTunes and you could use its store to download J2ME games as you do TV shows.
The one advantage I could see to this is overcoming device fragmentation that currently hurts the J2ME world. Developers could finally code to a single reference-implementation that would reach millions of users and apple would become a content aggregator and make a cut of the sales.
Go to elgato’s website to find the right tuner for you. If you have a standard NTSC analog source, you can always get the Plextor ConvertX for mac. Its about 200 bucks and includes hardware encoding (to MPEG 1,2,4 +Divx) and EyeTV, which works with the TitanTV for automatic scheduling.
Hopefully these TV tuners will soon include H.264 support, as its evident that there is going to be a huge demand for that now.
The new macs will automatically support all projectors and Large screen TVs with little setup/adjustments required. I recommend a projector if you have the wall space.
Of course this can all be done with a mac mini as well, except for the new iMac exclusive app and remote. We’ll see if those cross over soon.
Is that the new scratchable surface? Off to the Ginza Apple Store in Tokyo tonight.
know that between “DVDDecrypter” and nero recode, it is quite simple to rip and convert a dvd to h.264
2 steps. then you can also pick the profile you like. i currently convert dvds for my psp, nero recode has a profile just for it.
If I take a look at the current situation I see :
1. Some Minis are shipping with 5400RPM HDD and 1.5Ghz
PPC, this comes from Powerbook relics…
2. After the Nano introduction the Shuffle would suffer, then the remote control of the new iMac resemble some parts coming from unsold shuffles…
3. With the current price/performance ratio buying an iBook or a Powerbook is like burning dollars on the floor. You can get this new iMacs instead, same or less price, more power per Dollar.
4. The new iMac update is a price update (reduction) plus a case volume reduction with some more software
5. Clearly Apple is investing in a bright Multimedia future, with new iPod lines. The iTunes Video on Demand feature is really a big deal.
Innovation is driven by unsold stocks. Sadness.
3. With the current price/performance ratio buying an iBook or a Powerbook is like burning dollars on the floor. You can get this new iMacs instead, same or less price, more power per Dollar.
WTF! What if you want a portable pc eg. a laptop!
If price is so important to people, they can go and buy a black box from Dell…
Of course you are right, if you really want (need) you can buy a laptop, but remember that the intel switch as many analysts pointed out, it’s because the Apple laptop line is into a certain stagnation. At the same price not Dell, but Toshiba offers very good Centrino Laptops and despite the fact that they might be running XP they work fine and even slightly faster. An iMac is nothing more than a big big laptop. You have to dispose the monitor it cames with when you change it, as with any other laptop, simply bigger.
I’ve been thinking about upgrading to a new Mac and the new iMac just makes my eyes water. I’m not sure about the ‘display your photos to people’ although I know people who will have a use for it. The in-built iSight and the really nice spec make this a very attractive value proposition.
I’m not worried about the nay-sayers. If Apple released a Mac with a Bambleweeny-class processor, they’d complain it’s not the right color and it tastes bad too.
Look at the software bundle that comes with the new iMac, look at the form factor and the spec. These are machines for average users. The average user hasn’t been spoiled like this in ages. This is a great computer for a very reasonable price. Of course someone can build one that runs three times as fast in a second-hand can of spam [empty], run Suse 4 on it and have all the l33t w4r3z you can think of all for less than the price of a Trojan ribbed condom. And more power to them.
I prefer something that’s nicely integrated, has a good spec and that doesn’t require me to get a PhD in voodoo coding to get it to work. And yes, that’s going to cost something. The best things in life are free. If you want something really good, it’s going to cost a bit of money.
– If Apple was a company ‘like any other’ there would indeed be no reason for excitement. But people -are- excited.
– Jobs is the master at the Reality Distortion Field, but if he really had nothing cool to sell, he would only get so far with his sales pitch.
Some of you will sneer at that, but remember that he found a way to sell music online when the music industry was only suing people for illegal downloads. Now they want a bigger slice of the pie because he has [well, the girls and boys in Cupertino did] made a product that sells really well. It is unfair to say Jobs ‘is nothing special’. He managed to succeed where the music industry didn’t.
Is it Jobs’s fault that the music industry is just too plain stupid to sell its own product? Not only does he know how to sell his own products, he also found a successful way to sell someone else’s product. So maybe you want to cut Mr. Jobs some slack for being shrewd enough to have great products made and a way to sell them. I see people in my own company who would give an internal organ to be able to do that.
I’m a big fan of Apple, insofar as you can be a fan of a corporation, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to some of the underlying realities. Nor do I accept anything that comes out of Cupertino as the Light Fantastic just because it’s Apple.
But they’re doing a lot of great work and they’re building great products. If they didn’t people wouldn’t be buying them, it’s that simple. Marketing alone does not shift 6+ million iPods in one quarter.
– Apple has great technical capability. The new system, which will be released late next year will be 1) on time
2) running seamlessly on the new systems as well as the old ones, they know this already, the technology is there
3) a great incentive for third party developers to also make their software available for Apple where previously they may not have considered this [and don’t point out that it’s more than just the chip, I know it’s more than just the chip]
Apple is a happenin’ joint.
This is another classic of the cult with many of the classic themes figuring largely in it.
The claim that there is no alternative is common. Here its done by suggesting that the only alternative is to run Suse 4 on a machine built in an empty spam tin.
There is the cult of personality of the leader, Jobs. Here his genius is said to be manifested in the invention of online music selling…
There are the abrupt 180 degree reversals. Previously the PPC was the only chip to use. Now however the move to Intel is going to go seamlessly and be another distinguishing mark of greatness.
There is the dismissal of anyone thinking differently and not sharing the devotees feelings on the grounds that their misgivings are just trivial pointless complaints which would be made about anything Apple does. This is striking, because the mechanism at work is projection of ones own (reversed) feelings onto the audience. The audience would not cavil no matter what Apple does, but the devotees will applaud no matter what Apple does.
Finally, there are the delusions of grandeur. It is not a company like any other. No, and its great leader is not a CEO like any other.
It may seem ungenerous to react like this, but there is a reason. Apple is a company of real if limited achievements, though perhaps, historically, of modest staying power. It has rethought and reinvented itself in a very praiseworthy way. Its done a great job at the same sort of OS redevelopment task over a Unix base as has been done by PCBSD and DesktopBSD and the Linux desktops – at least as good, and in some ways better. It has diversified out of the computer product line into the consumer electronics space with dramatic success.
But, but –
– it is selling around the same number of units in the PC space as it did 10 years ago – and this is after a recovery from disastrously low levels, when the market as a whole has soared dramatically. It is metamorphosing into a company whose main competitor is Sony and the other consumer electronics companies, but it lacks their solid base in manufacturing, and it is an open question whether it can make it the rest of the way into their space and be a viable long term competitor there.
The cultish adulation does it no favors. Its a denial both of the real achievements and of the distance it still has to go. It really is a company like any other, its opportunities and threats can be analysed in the same way. More than that: realism about the objects of our enthusiasms is a virtue, and its opposite a vice. If there is one thing the history of the twentieth century should have taught us, it is that uncritical adulation is as damaging to those who feel it, as to those they feel it for.
it is that uncritical adulation is as damaging to those who feel it, as to those they feel it for.
I have said with so many words that I don’t buy everything just because it comes from Cupertino. In how many ways do you want me to put it?
Besides, it is rather well-documented that Jobs has [and maybe still is] not been the most charming boss to work for. I don’t admire that in a person. It is needlessly crass and brutal and when I come in to work for someone I don’t appreciate having to deal with the problems that my job generates and to have to deal with their personality problems on top of that.
To put my adulation into perspective.
Having said that, without Jobs there would be no more Apple today. It’s true that they managed to squander the pole position from their early lead, but in the last 5 or 6 years they have been doing ever better. Will that ever amount to anything on a global scale? I don’t know. Maybe.
From a user perspective I see them putting out some nice products, both in hardware and in software. I didn’t like the idea behind the Cube very much, but it will have put them on the path to the Mini, for sure.
In the mean time, as a daily user, I find the system to work to my utter satisfaction. I’m having doubts about the Dashboard for lack of a killer app, but if you never press F12, you never see it anyway.
Other stuff like Expose is very simple, elegant and they’re the kind of feature that is extremely well conceived to work in a windowed environment.
To give you a no and a yes.
Overall they’re doing a great job, they are better received in the market place then ever and I happen to think that is a good thing.
Your ‘adulation hurts the growth potential’ is only half an argument. There are people coming to the Mac who do not share the same admiration [and they don’t have to on my account]. I see them whining about features they don’t see in Windows or yakking that “it’s different than what I’m used to on Windows”. Seems reasonable.
I don’t see the fans as being in the way of growth. Whether there are a billion users or ten thousand, the fans will love it for the culture [and it has cultural overtones. Apple makes the iPod, someone invents podcasting. Talk about embracing the technology] while others, who don’t care about the hype will just enjoy using a great piece of hardware and a really cool set of software. Industry is taking a closer look at the Mac, and not because they love Jobs so very much. Academia is building heavy computing power with the Mac, and not because they like that dinky Automator icon. Both of the last need good, solid solutions to their problems. If Apple did not have it in it to provide these solutions, they wouldn’t even be considered.
So I think they are moving in the right direction. I don’t see them regaining the street and a half lead they used to have, but in trying they give me great stuff to play with. I genuinely enjoy working with my Mac. I love to talk about that and share the joy. Which makes me a fan. But I’m not a blind fan and I don’t shove stuff under the rug out of some sense of loyalty. When things go wrong, I call it like I see it. I have enough experience in the ICT sector to identify issues in the background.
Some people have bought a Mac because of my endorsement [sadly, that doesn’t yield me any kickbacks], but I give people real advice based on what they tell me they need. I don’t soft-soap them and I tell them I’m not even going to try to soft-soap them. And I let them make up their own mind. There have been people who bought a PC anyway. That’s cool with me. Why would I mind? I don’t have to work with it. It bothers me that they call me in the evening because they have contracted a virus and now their computer is no longer working, but I’m not telling them: “told you so”.
I’m nice that way.
I stick with Apple. Other platforms try to innovate too, but somehow it doesn’t surface. Vista won’t be here for another year and they admitted to having screwed the pooch big time which forced them to drop a lot of features they wanted to incorporate; Linux is a great effort but it’s too unfocused and you can’t expect the average user to start hacking X11 to get some app running.
It hasn’t always been the case and they can go off the deep end again [you never can tell], but for right now, Apple has their act together and it shows. When they’re bad they break your heart, but when they’re good they’re bloody awesome.
I appreciate your ideas and you do make some very valid, good points. I just don’t like to be told I’m an uncritical adulator because really seriously, I’m not.
I just finished blowing $300+ on a the high-end IPod Nano for my girlfriend. One month later and they come out with a new, must-have IPod. Now she’ll probably want that one too… this is getting expensive…
Okay, I’m a MAC/Apple NooBE. In fact, I don’t own one but contemplating it. My son [10 Years Old] uses a Mac in school. I’d like to get him one for home, but not sure of the reliability, etc. Are they reliable? Are they worth the cost? Compared to a PC, how’s speed, etc?
Are they reliable? Yes. I’ve used my current one of 6 and a haft years and only had to upgrade the RAM and add an extra hard disk. They can crash, but it is far from common, and you simply stop having to worry about virii and other malware (you can count the total of OS X malware on one hand).
Speed is comparible, to a PC neither is an out and out for sure winner.
Cost, Mac’s do cost more. But you do get more and it lasts longer. Plus Mac OS X is a very good operating system both technically and in terms of ease of use.
Thanks! I guess that’s why I asked the questions, because they do cost more. My son uses the one his classroom, and loves it. He’s not too concerned about games; he has 2 gaming consoles. This is for homework, etc.
Thanks again!
Okay, I’m a MAC/Apple NooBE. In fact, I don’t own one but contemplating it. My son [10 Years Old] uses a Mac in school. I’d like to get him one for home, but not sure of the reliability, etc. Are they reliable? Are they worth the cost? Compared to a PC, how’s speed, etc?
If by reliable you mean: do they crash? I haven’t seen a crash yet. Some people here will say: “if you do soandso and install thisandthat, boom there it goes”. Maybe.
Your son… I don’t think so [not saying your son isn’t a bright kid, but at 10 he’d have to be a prodigy I guess].
Reliable as in: safe from viruses. I don’t know. I haven’t seen one yet. Maybe the first serious virus on the Mac destroys the entire community. I hope not, but it might. Hard to tell without ever having seen one.
Does it have a gazillion apps like on Windows? No. How many word processors do you need? You can use Office. MacBU at Redmond makes a fine Office edition for the Mac.
The latest Macs come with apps you won’t find on any platform though. Tightly integrated. Perfect apps? I don’t think so. The only perfect app I’ve ever seen is the great-button-that-does-nothing. Works like a charm.
I’m a big fan of the iLife apps though. Very mature, really neat.
Are they worth the cost. That question in this place will generate a blizzard of responses. They used to be unconscionably expensive. No longer. They’re not free, some of them are not even cheap, but they’re affordable. Take care of them, you should be good for many years, and the present crop promises to be a really nice set of machines. Lots of apps come with it, iSight included standard, and [thank God Almighty] there’s a better graphics card in them now. It’s a balanced system, offers nice features.
Speed is a relative thing. You’re going to have to do some serious Photoshopping before you will see an impact on response time. Dashboard with many widgets open will gobble up some mighty resources, but you can turn them off when you don’t want them.
On Windows it’s the virus scanner that’s going to be eating your cycles.
You can do without widgets on a Mac. Doing without a virus scanner on Windows… tricky.
Speedwise, the present Intel machines have a faster processor. Next year Apple will have Intel chips as well. As far as performance goes, my criterion is responsiveness. If I don’t have to wait half an hour after I clicked an icon for the app to open, it could run on 100 MHz for all I care.
My dual 1 Gig G4 is quite responsive, doesn’t really lag. Buy an iMac now, you get at least a 1.9 Gig G5. Is it nominally slower than an Intel [say 3.8]? Yes, obviously. Is it a slouch? I don’t think so.
There’s a lot of games that won’t be available to your son and I think he won’t appreciate that a great deal. But there are great games and the more users there are, the greater the incentive there is to make the game also for the Mac [don’t buy a Mac to increase the head count. Buy one because you want one].
As a user experience the Mac is a real slick customer. There are schools of philosophical learning that like the Aqua interface, there are those that would burn it and you along with it. And then there are people making skins so that their machine has an Aqua-ish interface…
I think you won’t do your son a disservice by getting him a Mac. The latest crop is incredibly feature rich. Some of those you’ll love to pieces, some of them you won’t care about at all.
Maybe you want to buy two Macs. For when you like your son’s so much your stealing his play time in the evening
.
doesnt work here at my powerbook
update silk!
Front Row is a step in the right direction, but we’re all waiting for the day I can order up a movie from iTunes on my Mac mini entertainment hub and play it on my 70″ Sony SXRD TV – instead of trotting down to the local video rental place and instead of dicking around with ordering video on demand from my cable provider which compresses the crap out of the signal and doesn’t offer 5.1 surround.
Or is it just me???
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