#FF00AA

@apple@

There it is: the iMac is two or three times faster than the G5 was (or is it? it seems the benchmarks are way too optimized for multiprocessor systems — unlike most common applications — to mean anything at all [via]), for the same price. I’m obviously a bit frustrated, but I can find solace in the knowledge I own the last revision (hence, the most reliable) of the old, entirely user-serviceable, iMac G5 design. Whereas those who fell for last fall’s revision trap have a design as recent, and as likely to be faulty, as the new Intel Mac — only much slower. Suckers.

As for the PowerBook, it becomes MacBook Pro (is the PowerMac going to be named Mac Pro? the iBook, MacBook? if so, why does iMac remain iMac?): the name is rather ridiculous, and the change wasn’t that necessary — after all, “Power” remains pretty neutral. Price and specifications aren’t much surprising (once could have hoped the Mactels would be cheaper, but that would only happen if Apple wasn’t using the latest in Intel chips — if they put old Pentium M chips in the next Mac mini, it would really get interesting); what’s weirder is only offering a 15-inch setup. And including Front Row and the remote (with a poorly located IR receiver). On a 15-inch setup. How hard is it to cram the same motherboard into a bigger box?

Infinite Loop :

I was checking out the new MagLite, or whatever they call it, plug, and it is kind of cool. The magnets snaps in and out when you get close to the power receptacle […]. I did that about a hundred times, and then I looked up and noticed the battery readout had calculated an estimated life span. […] Three hours and three minutes on a full charge. Let’s hope Intel sends over some Magic Faerie Dust to sprinkle on the optimization code over the next few weeks.

[01/14] But you should probably take into account the fact that demonstration machines have to be configured for maximum CPU power, not minimum energy consumption.

As for the Mactel commercial… the blogosphere consensus is that it’s too geeky, but cool; I find it way too geeky, not particularly cool, and absolutely useless: either you already know that Apple has switched to Intel, or you have no idea who Intel is and you don’t give a damn. I wonder where they intend to air it — or maybe they only made it for Macworld and blogs, and that would be the most reasonable option.

 

@apple@

The way iLife integrates with the internet is pretty nice: creating podcasts in Garageband, generating RSS “photocasts” so grandma can receive the latest family photos directly in iPhoto or her screensaver; creating your website or blog in a few clicks (and with Ajax). As retro as it may be to make a blog with no serverside scripting whatsoever (which means, no search, no comments), it’s quite tempting. And included in iLife, and free with all new Macs. It’s odd, though, that they wouldn’t think of making iWeb work in tandem with a real blog platform on .Mac.

iTunes 6.0.2 forces a big iTunes Music Store contextual ad on me, taking up a third of the window. What the hell is wrong with them? You can very easily remove it, in the “Edit” menu or by clicking the associated button, but my first reflex was rushing to the “Parental Controls” preferences to disable the iTMS. Will I be the only one?

Of course, the privacy paranoids among you will have immediately realized that inserting contextual ads, i.e. recommending records related to what you’re currently listening to, means iTunes keeps reporting what’s playing to apple.com. And it won’t bother to ask whether you’re okay with that. On such a touchy subject as MP3, and when the program’s developer happens to have deals with most majors, it’s a bit awkward — beyond the fact itself of inserting ads into the interface.

 

@apple@

The new widgets are pretty disappointing. The calendar is visually less interesting than the previous version, and it still won’t display your appointments (it’s a good thing the iCal Events widgets seems to have become pretty reliable); the new address book is almost ugly; the ski weather totally is; what’s most annoying, though, is that Google widget having as much appeal and use as all the other search widgets you could already download. Seriously, who wants to press F12 to type in a Google request instead of switching directly to Safari? Okay, obviously some people do want to, but should Apple really be encouraging them?

At least, the Yahoo! Widgets equivalent displays results inline. It doesn’t make it really much more useful (except that, unlike Dashboard widgets, it’s allowed to live permanently on the desktop), but it does give it some kind of an excuse to exist.

 

@apple@

Google Earth is available for Mac, and isn’t uglier (actually, it may even look better) than the PC version. A compulsory download, even if you have no need for it. Just play with it.

And as I launch it again to make a capture I find out it lost the bookmarks folder I had created (looks like you’re not supposed to be placing bookmarks outside the “My Places” folder — but it won’t tell you).

 

@apple@

This year’s most important contest in the blogosphere has just launched: be the first to post pictures of your Intel iMac running Windows (preferredly with a game, since that’s the main point of having Windows on a Mac) and you can be sure your name will be on everyone’s lips for two weeks and your webserver will never recover.

[01/12] Or maybe it won’t be so easy, or possible at all, until Windows Vista [via].

 

@apple@

Techdirt [via] :

A reporter at News.com noticed an extremely unintentional inside joke with Apple’s closing share price today. On the very day the company officially announced its first Intel-based product, Apple’s stock price closed at $80.86.

 

@apple@

Oh, they did so well updating Safari: it just crashed on me for the first time in months.