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Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

Speculation: New iMac Will Look Like iPhone

nexgen-imac-mockup.jpg

Edited to correct my obvious typo. The more I think about this, the more it makes sense. This would be the perfect platform to introduce a radical mouse replacement for — like a huge trackpad with multitouch. The design language screams multitouch. Curiouser and curiouser.

Original Post: Interesting bit of speculation over at Gizmodo today about the new iMacs we’re all expecting hear about tomorrow. It’s all summed up in the picture they mocked up above. Basically, if the last generation of iMacs was made to look like the big brother of the iPod, why shouldn’t generation tie into Apple’s new top-of-the-line portable lifestyle device the iPhone?

Back when Apple introduced the first Intel iMacs in January 2006, I was quite surprised that the company maintained the identical form factors from the the final PowerPC iMacs, which were only three months old at the time. Thinking about it more, however, it made perfect sense. Apple was deliberately designing to emphasize the reliability of the new technologies. Now that the Intel Macs are runaway hits, it’s time to emphasize the benefits of connecting an iPhone to an iMac. A perfect design strategy.

I wouldn’t buy one, but it’s a lot more credible than the Apple Cinema Display knock-offs people are passing off as iMac shots in this rumor cycle.

About the author

Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is the communications lead for growth strategy firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

Email the author | Read more posts by Pete Mortensen.

7 comments

    Back when Apple introduced the first Intel iPhones in January 2006…

    Huh? Do you mean Intel iMacs?

    Intel iPhones! :o You mean they’re making ‘em too!!! :D

    I wish!
    … but I doubt.
    How you gonna use 3d softwares?

    I want the MacBook Mini, about 1 pound, 9 inch screen, 75% size keyboard, 80 gig flash memory, touch screen. More than an iPhone, less than a MacBook, ultra-portable, ultra-sexy.

    Wouldn’t buy one? By that do you mean you wouldn’t buy any desktop or the iMac (even in it’s current package) in particular. I’m not planning to buy an iMac because I love the flexibility of my PowerBook and I’m not ready to spend $2K on a new MBP. Yet. But if I had a need/use for a desktop, I’d grab an iMac in a heartbeat. You may need more power, you may need less, you may need a notebook; but they are, dollar for dollar, the best computer, period. Any format, any model, any price.

    Nice thoughts. Craig Hockenberry recently wrote down some thoughts on this, and so did I. Take a look! The general consensus is that its not going to happen for awhile, but some variations might make it into future products.

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