Well, not really a Mac, but closer (in that it’s in a box that sits on a table and connects to a screen): the iTV is out (almost), called Apple TV, and it’s pretty much everything we heard it was. The interface looks as cool as it did last time, though it unexplicably doesn’t seem to have Cover Flow.
Except that it only does 720p, which is pretty crazy when you think it’s a $299 box that only streams videos and music from your other computers onto the TV — i.e., the kind of thing you only buy if you’ve got oodles of money to throw at your home entertainment platform, which means you’re relatively more likely to have a 1080i/p TV.
By the way, I’m not sure whether I should call it Apple tv or Apple TV. The website either spells it “apple symbol, tv” or “Apple TV” — and I guess the latter makes sense in that writing about an Apple tv looks weird. (Weirder than an iPod hifi does, for instance. Well, not by much, though.) But it’s inconsistent, and Apple’s been pretty anal on capitalization in the past.
@apple@
The 802.11n AirPort Extreme looks cuter than the Apple TV. Ands it has USB drive sharing, which is pretty cool (well, not that I want to share drives wirelessly, but it’s nice for more trusting users), and well-timed, just as Microsoft announced Windows Home Server.
I only wish the tech specs listed RAID, though (but at least the site does say you can connect multiple drives). Oh, and, you know, that pesky port that Apple embraced a few years back named Firewire. And, on a more superficial level, I wish Apple would release matching hard drives (or enclosures) themselves, rather than leave it up to manufacturers to design “similar-looking, but not quite” stacking drives.
Anyway, wireless aficionados (which, let me reiterate, I am absolutely not) will be pleased to know that all Core 2 Duo Macs previously sold can get a software update to 802.11n (as had already been rumored).
@apple@
The ModBook has been unveiled, and boy is it ugly. I wonder how a serious business can figure “we’re gonna make that cool MacTablet everybody wants” and hack a MacBook into such PCesque crap, thinking people will still find it cool. I mean, you’ve really got to get out of your way to take the innards out of a MacBook’s case and put them into such a weird two-color box with oddly-designed buttons.
Anyway… so it’s a MacBook with a Wacom digitizer (and a GPS if you want one), it’s not horribly expensive for what it is, and, yeah, I could totally handle the fugliness if it works right. Check out the photo gallery.
@apple@
There also was an OmniFocus presentation yesterday. It sounds nice, and I particularly like this:
OmniFocus will have a simpler and more streamlined interface than OmniOutliner.
In related news, Yojimbo got an update, reportedly with extensive AppleScript capabilities (at last).
Want to know when I post new content to my blog? It's a simple as registering for free to an RSS aggregator (Feedly, NewsBlur, Inoreader, …) and adding www.ff00aa.com to your feeds (or www.garoo.net if you want to subscribe to all my topics). We don't need newsletters, and we don't need Twitter; RSS still exists.
Legal information: This blog is hosted par OVH, 2 rue Kellermann, 59100 Roubaix, France, www.ovhcloud.com.
Personal data about this blog's readers are not used nor transmitted to third-parties. Comment authors can request their deletion by e-mail.
All contents © the author or quoted under fair use.
