Cult of Mac

Next Wednesday’s Apple event will likely see the announcement of the next evolution of iPod, dubbed the iPod Touch. Which is a little bit weird, because the iPhone is obviously the next evolution, what with its revolutionary multitouch interface and the widescreen and the like. So this week, we’re all sort of praying for an iPod with a big hard drive, multitouch, and maybe iTunes purchasing via WiFi. A hard-working country mouse to iPhone’s city slicker.

But in really thinking about where Apple might go (and in the spirit of free-wheeling rumor-mongering), I must admit that a possibility I haven’t seen much of anywhere is that the new iPod would carry over the breakthrough Internet browsing device piece of the iPhone puzzle. As much as I would love an iPhone, its storage capacity is far too small for my iTunes library, and my phone is fine as a phone. I just want awesome multitouch web-browsing and e-mail. If Apple is going to the trouble of building WiFi into the next iPod, it would be a complete waste not to put in real Internet capabilities — even if it steals some iPhone thunder.

All of which leads me to think that the new iPods will remain free of wireless connectivity. Apple isn’t one to give away the farm, and the iPhone is clearly designed to one day completely replace the iPod line. They cannibalize up, not down.

What do you think the next iPod will be (let’s leave the hideous iPod nano phat out of the conversation for the time being)? Widescreen evolution or iPhone web browsing revolution without all those pesky phone calls?

Image via Gizmodo

Unafraid of Apple’s lawyers, Think Secret has a gallery of gorgeous screenshots and icons from the latest build of Leopard (9A527), which was released to software developers last week.

Above is the large version of the new Network Utility icon. According to Think Secret, almost all the icons in Leopard are now bigger, better and brighter.

And just as the icons are getting bigger, so too are the applications. According to Think Secret, Address Book has grown from 25.2MB in Tiger to 47.7MB in Leopard; Safari has grown from 6.5MB to 51.9MB; and Mail has grown from 49MB to 279.7MB.

Hacker genius Erling Ellingsen has made his own $2 multitouch input pad from a plastic bag full of blue dye and an iSight camera. He’s also hacked the iPhone’s accelerometer that allows you to control the phone by tipping, rotating or shaking it.

Ellingson’s jury-rigged multitouch input pad lets him control his computer with his fingers, just like the iPhone or Jeff Han’s futuristic multitouch table. Using a bag of die and an iSight camera beneath it, Ellingson can navigate the Web, move chess pieces and play a virtual keyboard. How it works exactly is not clear, but check out the impressive video:

Ellingsen has also hacked the iPhone’s accelerometer, allowing him to control various homemade iPhone applications by tilting, rotating or shaking the iPhone. Ellingsen has created three demo apps controlled by tipping and shaking: a virtual Steve Jobs bobble-head that bobs its head when the phone is shaken; a maze that is navigated by tipping and turning the phone; and a virtual box of balls that roll and bounce as he rotates the phone. Again, see the impressive video:

Ellingsen has released the source code for the iPhone hack, and he’s asking for people to submit their ideas and vote on suggestions for what to do with it.

So far, he’s thinking about an iPod+Nike-like pedometer, a Labyrinth game, SmackBook navigation for Safari and a virtual pet that’s shakeable, among other ideas.

(Via Waxy)

Apple just sent out invites to a special media event at San Francisco’s Moscone West convention center on September 5 at 10AM — and music is clearly the theme.
There’s been lots of speculation that new iPods are on tap, including stubby, ugly iPod nanos and a touchscreen iPod Touch.

There are many measures of Apple fandom. Some people hoard old machines and keep them in pristine running condition. Others get tattoos and unfortunate haircuts.

And then there are those who drop cash on limited-edition lego replicas of Steve Jobs and Woz. No, I’m not making this up. According to Ars Technica, the sets go on sale tomorrow at 9 p.m. Eastern. You can be one of the few, the proud, the Mac proud.

Via Digg.

Photographer Frasier Spiers spotted this chappie with an Apple ‘do at the weekend grand opening of Glasgow’s new Apple store.

The rest of Fraser’s pictures in this Flickr set capture the character of Glaswegians better than any other the other pictures I’ve seen from the grand opening.

One of the things I thought strange about the other picture sets was the absence of drunks. If you’re out all night in Glasgow, you’re certain to encounter a few. Well, Fraser captured one. Fraser says this young man was extremely drunk, and boasted about his sexual prowess to the waiting line for hours.

I thought this guy was a drunken thug, but he’s nerd from GlasMUG cheering people on.

And here’s a kid who queued for hours in a Che Guevara shirt. Fraser writes: “The irony of wearing a Che Guevera (SIC) hoodie whilst queueing for hours to attend a retail store opening is beyond parody. “I wanted an iPod Shuffle for Christmas, but my mommy says that Apple exploits the workers! I got a packet of seeds and a sickle instead”¦.”

(Thanks Oleg for noting Fraser’s pictures in the comments).

The latest build of Leopard (build 9A527) has a default desktop that looks like some kind of Star Trek supernova in outer space, according to a leaked screenshot.

Here’s what it looks like in use. The outer space theme is used at least twice in Leopard: the Time Machine backup app also has a spacey UI.

As Phil Ryu notes, with the cosmic backdrop, Leopards’ interface looks like the control deck of a futuristic spaceship looking out into void.

Could Apple be trying to imply that Leopard is so advanced it’s positively science fiction?

After learning that the teen who first unlocked the iPhone got a Nissan 350Z for his efforts, Wired News editor Kevin Poulsen is willing to trade his classic Nissan 300-ZX for an unlocked iPhone.

Kevin’s car is similar to the car Woz drove (see below), but it needs a bit of TLC, so you might want to offer him an unlocked Razr instead. Or maybe just a regular razor. You know, for shaving. Bids in the comments please.

Via Fake Steve.

Two Apple geniuses from Apple’s new store in Glasgow, which celebrated its grand opening this weekend. Photo by Setteb.it.
Gary Allen of IFOAppleStore, who travelled to Scotland from Berkeley to attend the grand opening, noted that the doorway smelled of urine. Scots are notorious drunken urinators in shop doorways. Link.

Photo by Stillframe

Many wireless companies will unlock cell phones after the initial one- or two-year contract has been fulfilled. But AT&T says the iPhone is “different” and won’t be unlocked at the end of the contract:

AT&T will unlock phones for customers once they have fulfilled their contracts, which typically run one to two years. One big exception: Apple’s iPhone, distributed exclusively in the USA by AT&T. “That’s different,” says AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel.

USA Today.

Once upon a time, way back in 1984, the Mac was new. Let us travel back to the past for another look into the amazing first issue of MacWorld, which I acquired two weeks ago at a family reunion.

This week, let’s turn to “Polishing the Mac,” an extraordinarily long interview by David Bunnell (almost 4,000 words) with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates that is basically just about the Mac’s greatness. I’ll tease with a choice quote, then click through for some more of Chairman Bill’s still-prescient (and now hilarious and ironic) praise for the Mac. Also, dig the hair and glasses. Could he look more like his Anthony Michael Hall doppelganger if he tried?

On the Mac’s Ease of Use: “The Mac heralds a major change in how people view and interact with application programs. That’s why I’m so excited about it. There’s no question that I’ll let my mom try it out.”

Much, much more after the jump.

In response to a story I posted about a fixed Mac getting repeatedly shipped all over San Francisco, including to a CompUSA, reader Jonathan has produced quite possibly the most appalling story ever, from his attempts to fix an iMac with Apple New Zealand. It’s unbelievable.

Wednesday, day 8. I phone up at lunchtime, hows my Mac doing? Huh? What? The technician is just installing the parts right now and the MAc should be ready some time thisafternoon, but we’re still waiting on the replacement mouse? WTF?

later that day Apple call back. Your iMac is ready to be picked up. What about the mouse? No we’re still witing on that. Can I have my old mouse back in the interim? No, we have to keep that to send back when we get the replacemnet Mosue.

And that’s just the part about the mouse — Jonathan took it in because of a broken SuperDrive. You simply must read on in… 

The time has arrived. All of us cheapskates who’ve been holding out for cheaper iPhones have been thrown a frickin’ bone. At Apple’s online store, we can now purchase factory refurbished iPhones for a full $100 below retail price. Which makes it just an arm and a bit of a leg instead of the whole limb.

I am surprised to see the refurb discount be so deep — this suggests that Apple has had to replace a lot of iPhones here in the early going. Who’s sent theirs back? Go ahead, you can tell us. No need to be shy.

Via Gizmodo 

Great (and totally horrifying) story of customer service gone awry up at SFist yesterday. The writer in question had a PowerBook completely melt down and went to the San Francisco Apple Store only to be awarded a free MacBook Pro — which was shipped to CompUSA. No, really.

Yet, somehow we knew there would be at least one more hurdle before our computer woes had been resolved. Thank you, Fed Ex, for mistaking the number 760 Market (our s.o.’s office building — stalkers take note) for 750 Market, which happens to be CompUSA. Luckily, we were able to track down the package and obtain it from Scott, the sales manager at CompUSA, who not-so-subtly scolded us for not buying the computer through CompUSA.

Wow. That totally puts my worst Genius Bar story to shame, which was getting a free hard drive replacement in a PowerBook, but then having the video cable get crimped in the process, leading to spontaneous black-outs — and then losing the computer temporarily.

Anyone else had bad experiences with Apple Customer Care to balance all the good ones we’ve all had?

Feast your eyes, folks. Who likes the Z-Car? Woz likes the Z-car! Because it’s AWESOME!

Via Epicenter

Very cool post up at Apple 2.0 right now about the connection between press attention and Apple’s marketing efforts. Essentially, as Leander has argued before, the company lays off the advertising a little bit when interest is high. Phil at Apple 2.0 decided to see if Apple then pumps it back up again when things tail off. None-too-surprisingly, press hits about the iPhone are way down from two months ago. Last week, after the company rolled out “All These Years” and “All the Parts,” the volume of iPhone stories went up again.

Check it out, it’s great.

Apple’s new iMac has one of the coolest, thinnest keyboards ever released. How does it stack up to where the company came from? Blake Patterson set to find out, shooting a fascinating set of other keyboards next to it for comparison, including the Newton, the Lisa (seen above) and the NeXT keyboards.

Very nice.

Via Daring Fireball

Apple killed iMovie. That’s all there is to say about it. While most of the upgrades to iLife and, especially, iWork 08 have been warmly welcomed, the once-venerable consumer application landed with a resounding thud.

You might expect, given the numbering, that iMovie 08 might be an upgrade to iMovie 06 HD, which was a very mature digital video editing suite with fantastic soundtrack capabilities, brilliant iDVD integration and an intuitive timeline for keeping track of overall progress.

But no, it’s actually a completely new application, and it throws virtually all of the great mindshare iMovie once had away. Someone at Apple decided it would be cool to make video editing more like photo library management. Which might be true. What this means in practice is that the program is great at insanely rapid video editing. Find your clips, make a sequence, go.

Which is fine, if speed is your main concern. Otherwise, it’s a significant downgrade. David Pogue probably has the best round-up of what’s wrong with the new program, but it’s too big a list to capture here. Essentially, they got rid of everything, even black-and-white video. Or even the ability to import iMovie 06 projects intact. For very good reason, the older version is still available as a free download. Incredibly, the new program has much higher system requirements than its (nominal) predecessor.

What do you think? Is anyone really enjoying iMovie 08?

Oh, Woz. We could forgive all the Segway polo. And the US Festivals. Even the interviews hyping iWoz. But dating Kathy Griffin? Really?

While I’m sure the stand-up comic and star of “My Life on the D-List” has a hidden interesting side that she’s never shown in any of her acting or comedy, she just doesn’t seem like your type. Then again, since I hear you met her after one of her shows, you must share a sense of humor. If you leverage that into a new Bay Area dial-a-joke service like you had back in the day, maybe all will be forgiven.

Via Perez Hilton

Technorati Tags: kathy griffin, d-list, woz

Gather ’round, children. And let me tell you of a time before the consumer Internet. Before the iPod. And, if you can believe it, even before the iPhone. Yes, I speak of 1984. When the original Mac was the state of the art, and my favorite TV show was Sesame Street (not that this has changed).

I recently managed to acquire the very first issue of MacWorld magazine, published in February 1984. Though it sells on eBay for up to $100 a copy, I’ll be bringing you hilarious content from Mac fandom past for free. It features many wonders, including an art gallery of MacPaint creations, an interview with Bill Gates where he calls the Mac a classic, and even a feature on the incredible WYSIWIG technology that will allow print-outs on the Apple ImageWriter to look just like the screen output (you must see that one to believe it).

But before I start to dive too far into the issue (which will show up over the course of several days and posts), I will start with the most horrifying ad in MacIntosh history. Click through — if you dare!

Technorati Tags: ad, humor, macworld

The iPhone is already a reasonably mature product. Despite persistent reports of dead zones on screens and lots of requests for the landscape keyboard outside of Safari, the real interest is with what Apple can do in software next.

That’s the genius of the iPhone model. Apple created an endlessly flexible interface that can be updated and modified strictly in software. They’ve also made a mostly menu-free system that keeps iPhone apps relatively flat. It’s quite a paradigm shift from the hierarchies we’re now used to in our PCs.

PhillRyu has done a great job synthesizing his thoughts on where Apple should be headed next with iPhone software. My favorite is above, iMovie for iPhone. I don’t know if I can possibly think of a more perfect concept. Fingers crossed, eh?

Via Digg.

Friends, Mac-Heads, Clarismen, lend me your ears; I come to bury AppleWorks, not to praise him; the spreadsheets that men do live after them, the oft-interminable crashes shake down to the bones. So let it be with iWork.

Surprising few who were paying attention, Apple officially killed of its former office suite, AppleWorks, with the introduction of Numbers, a spreadsheet program that completes the new iWork trifecta. The writing’s been on the wall for a long time. iWork was introduced in 2005, and I don’t think AppleWorks has been updated at all since mid-2002. Essentially, they got to Carbon OS X compliance and went no further.

Though it never served as a solid suite for OS X, I do have some affection for AppleWorks, which I first came to know as Clarisworks in about 1993 on my dad’s PowerBook 140. I’m not sure I can count the number of short stories and novels I started and abandoned in that little program, not to mention the dreadful book covers I mocked up in those days.

ClarisWorks was great in the mid-1990s, because it didn’t try to do too much. It was a solid little program that would let you do what you wanted to without trying to make you do things you didn’t. Claris never developed a talking paper clip assistant, for example. The spreadsheet program couldn’t make web pages, and the presentation mode was modest in the extreme.

There’s a lesson there, I’m quite sure. Software has never been more bloated, and Apple itself is as guilty as anyone. Aesthetics are lovely, sure, but when are we going to go about creating programs that strictly make us more functional again? We’ve been at about the same place for years. What’s the next level?

R.I.P. AppleWorks. You served well, and you went as far as you could go and no further. Godspeed.

Image from Telephone Tribute

With Apple on top of the market, it can be easy to forget that Steves Jobs and Wozniak first collaborated on an illegal project, making blue boxes to place illegal long-distance phone calls — phone phreaking. One of their biggest inspirations, according to Woz’s autobiography, “iWoz,” was Joe Engressia, who legally changed his name to Joybubbles.

A student at the University of South Florida in the late 1960s, he was given the nickname “Whistler” due to his ability to place free long-distance phone calls with his whistle. He was disciplined by the University early on, but after graduating his studies in philosophy and moving to Tennessee, law enforcement raided his house; he was charged with malicious mischief and given a suspended sentence and quickly abandoned phreaking, although was able to whistle 2600 hertz throughout his life.

Joybubbles lived a tragic life, as you can read in his Wikipedia entry. Still he had a profound impact on the early days of Apple. This Esquire story, featuring Captain Crunch and Joybubbles, changed consumer electronics history by inspiring the Steves. Rest in peace.

Via Boingboing

Flickr User vaughn235 shared his loving clay rendering of the iPhone today (including box and dock, after the jump!). This is easily my favorite tribute to the iPhone yet. Way more impressive than a cake. Or maybe just different enough.

Via BoingBoing